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POUT 


COMMISSIONER  OF  AGRICULTURE 


THE  DISEASES  OF  CATTLE 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT   PRINTING   OFFICE 
1871. 


I.\  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  June  3,  1870. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate,  (the  Hotue  of  Representatives  concurring,)  That  there  be  printed  nix  thousand  extra  copies  of 
the  reports  on  the  "  Diseases  of  Cattle  in  the  United  States,"  presenting  the  results  of  investigations  ordered  by  Congress 
and  conducted  under  the  direction  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  with  illustrations  representing  various  stages 
of  disease,  including  six  photo-micrographs,  and  not  exceeding  eight  colored  plates;  of  which  one  thousand  live  hun 
dred  copies  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Senate,  three  thousand  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  one  thousand  live  hundred  for  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture. 

Attest:  GKO.  C.  GORHAM, 


IN   THE   Hol'SE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES,  July  14,  1870. 

Jlcsulred,  That  the  House  concur  in  the  foregoing  resolution  of  the  Senate  in  relation  to  the  printing  of  the 
reports  on  the  "  Diseases  of  Cattle  in  the  United  States." 

Attest  :  EDWARD  McPHERSON,  Cleii; 

By  CLINTON  LLOYD,  Chief  Clerk. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Report,  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture 1 

Report  of  Professor  Gauigec  on  the  lung  plague 3 

Report  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Woodward  on  the  pathological  anatomy  and  histology  of  the  respiratory  orgaus  in  the  pleu- 

ro-pneumonia  of  cattle 64 

Report  of  Professor  Gamgee  on  the  ill  effects  of  smutty  Corn  in  the  feed  of  farm  animals 73 

Report  of  Professor  Gamgee  on  the  splenic  or  periodic  fever  of  cattle 82 

Report  of  Drs.  Billings  and  Curtis  of  results  of  examinations  of  fluids  of  diseased  cattle  with  reference  to  the 

presence  of  cryptogamic  growths 156 

Report  of  II.  W.  Raveuel  on  the  fungi  of  Texas 171 

Report  of  J.  R.  Dodge  on  statistical  and  historical  investigations  of  the  progress  and  results  of  the  Texas  cattle 

disease ....  175 


I  L  L  U  S  T  R  A  T I  0  N  8  . 


CIIROMO-LITHOGRAPH8. 

Pajie. 
I.  External  surface  of  lung,  showing'  the  effusion  on  the  pleura!  surface  in  pleuro-pnenmoilia 58 

II.  Portion  of  lung,  showing  the  appearance  in  the  pleuro-pneumonia  of  cattle 58 

III.  Portion  of  lung  from  a  cow  dead  of  plenro-puenmonia 58 

MICRO-PHOTOGRAPHS. 

l\'.  Section  of  liealthy  portion  of  lung,  showing  epithelium,  from  a  cow  dead  of  epidemic  pleuro-pneumonia..         72 
V.  Section  of  inflamed  portion  of  lung,  showing  pns  corpuscles  in  the  air  vesicles,  from  a  cow  dead  of  epi 
demic  pleuro-pneumonia.. 72 

VI.  Section  of  inflamed  portion  of  lung,  showing  pns  corpuscles  iu  the  air  vesicles,  from  a  cow  dead  of  epi 

demic  pleuro-pneumonia 72 

VII.  Section  of  inflamed  portion  of  pericardium,  showing  new  elements,  from  a  cow  dead  of  epidemic  pleuro- 

pneumonia 72 

VIII.  Portion  of  the  exudation  in  the  pericardium,  showing  pus  cells,  from  a  cow  dead  of  epidemic  pleuro-pneu 
monia  72 

IX.  Section  of  inflamed  fat,  showing  inflammatory  products  between  the  fat  cells,  from  the  fat  about  the  peri 
cardium  of  a  cow  dead  of  epidemic  pleuro-pneumonia 72 

CHROMO-LITHOGBAPH8. 

X.  The  spleen,  incised,  in  splenic  fever 1U2 

XI.  The  heart,  in  splenic  fever 132 

XII.  The  kidney,  iu  splenic  fever 132 

XIII.  Illustrating  the  condition  of  the  peritoneal  surface  of  tlie  uterus,  iu  splenic  fever 132 

LITHOGRAPH. 

XIV.  Illustrating  cryptogramic  growths  in  the  fluids  of  diseased  cattle.  Fig.  1,  Micrococus  ;  Fig.  2,  Bacteria  ;  Fig. 

3,  Cryptococcus  (common  form) ;  Fig.  4,  Cryptocoecns  guttulatus  (Ch.  Robin);  Fig.  5,  Pcnicillium 
erustaceum  (Fr..  old) ;  Fig.  7,  Aspergillus ;  Figs.  8,  9,  10,  Mncoz  racemosus  (Fres.),  from  Hoffman  ;  Fig. 
11.  Blood  from  splenic  fever  X  450 ;  Fig.  12,  Bacteria  from  bile  of  splenic  fever  X  1200 ;  Fig.  13,  Myce 
lium  with  sporangia!  dilations,  result  of  culture  of  splenic  fever  blood 170 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMISSIONER  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  present  for  publication  a  series  of  reports  on  various 
diseases  of  cattle,  giving  the  results  of  investigations  undertaken,  first  as  a  duty  imposed 
by  the  organic  law  originating  this  Department,  and  subsequently  continued  in  pursuance 
of  the  direct  authority  of  Congress,  and  with  the  aid  of  an  appropriation  in  furtherance 
of  the  work. 

About  the  middle  of  June,  1868,  a  disease  broke  out  at  Cairo,  Illinois,  at  a  point 
where  large  numbers  of  Texas  cattle  had  been  landed.  It  was  the  disease  sometimes 
called  "  Spanish  fever,"  but  generally  known  as  "  Texas  cattle  disease."  This  epizootic, 
long  known  and  dreaded  by  owners  of  herds  in  Missouri  and  Kansas,  and  to  some  extent 
in  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  became  unusually  serious  in  the  track  of  Texas 
cattle  beyond  the  Mississippi,  in  1867  and  1868.  While  it  was  practically  unknown  in 
more  eastern  States,  general  interest  in  its  manifestations  was  not  aroused ;  but,  when  a 
new  channel  for  the  Texas  cattle  trade  was  opened,  and  the  river  steamboats  landed  their 
living  freight  in  the  heart  of  the  West,  the  ravages  of  the  strange  disease  extended  rapidly, 
carrying  infection  along  the  pathway  of  transportation  to  the  seaboard,  filling  the  public 
mind  with  alarm  for  the  safety  of  farm  stock,  and  even  exciting  apprehensions  that  the 
public  health  might  become  involved  in  the  future  progress  of  the  disease. 

From  Cairo  the  disease  spread  rapidly,  breaking  out  among  the  native  cattle  exposed 
to  the  migrating  stock,  at  all  points  of  railroad  transshipment.  My  attention  was  called 
to  the  serious  nature  of  this  disease  when  visiting  the  fair  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  I  immediately  secured  the  services  of  Professor  Gamgee,  of 
London,  England,  who  was  at  the  time  in  this  country,  to  make  full  investigation,  under 
the  following  instructions  : 

In  view  of  the  alarming  and  continued   ravages  of  the   cattle   disease   in   Illinois,   known   popularly   as  the 
"  Spanish  fever,"  and  assumed  to  l>e  communicated  by  cattle  recently  from  Texas,  I  hereby  authorize  you  to  makr 
investigations  into  its  cause  and  character,  and  to  ascertain  and  report,  if  possible,  a  practicable  remedy  or  means  of 
prevention. 

In  accordance  with  this  letter,  the  professor  visited  the  infected  districts  in  Illinois 
and  vicinity,  and  extended  his  observations  to  the  cattle  depot  at  Abilene,  in  Kansas. 

In  the  spring  of  1869,  in  company  with  Mr.  H.  W.  Ravenel,  of  South  Carolina,  an 
accomplished  botanist,  he  visited  that  part  of  Texas  on  and  near  the  Gulf  coast,  and 
examined  into  the  conditions  of  food  and  management  of  the  native  cattle  of  Texas  at 
those  points  at  which  transportation  begins.  The  observations  made  are  embodied  in 
the  accompanying  reports  of  Messrs'.  Gamgee  and  Ravenel. 

Four  chromo-lithographs,  illustrating  the  effects  of  splenic  fever  on  the  internal  organs, 
are  presented  in  connection  with  the  report  upon  that  disease. 


2  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

As  many  forms  of  contagious  disease  are  supposed  to  be  due  to  zymotic  or  fermentative 
changes  in  the  blood,  in  connection  with  which  a  microscopic  cryptogamous  vegetation  is 
constantly  present  in  a  growing  condition,  and  as  European  and  American  microscopists 
have  asserted  that  this  epizootic  is  a  disease  of  this  character,  it  became  essential  to  the 
success  of  this  investigation  that  such  microscopic  examination  should  be  skillfully  made. 
A  request  was  accordingly  made  by  this  Department  to  Brevet  Brigadier  General  J.  K. 
Barnes,  Surgeon  General  United  States  Army,  that  Doctors  J.  S.  Billings  and  E.  Curtis, 
assistant  surgeons  United  States  Army,  might  be  authorized  to  assist  Professor  Gamgee 
in  his  experiments  upon  the  subject  of  the  cryptogamic  causes  of  disease.  The  Surgeon 
General  authorized  these  gentlemen  to  enter  upon  that  duty,  and  their  report  is  appended. 

The  rapid  extension  of  pleuro-pneumonia  during  the  summer  of  1868,  and  its  increased 
fatality  at  points  where  cattle  were  collected  in  numbers,  made  it  the  duty  of  the  Depart 
ment  to  ascertain  its  nature,  extent,  and  the  possible  means  of  cheeking  or -wholly 
obliterating  it.  I  therefore  authorized  Professor  Gamgee,  in  the  autumn  of  1868,  to  make 
a  full  investigation  of  the  disease  then  spreading  through  many  States  of  the  Union. 
In  December  of  that  year  Professor  Gamgee  presented  a  preliminary  report,  which  was 
published  in  the  monthly  reports  of  1868.  His  final  report  was  first  published  with  the 
preliminary  reports  of  cattle  diseases  issued  in  the  autumn  of  1869,  of  which  this  is  an 
enlarged  edition. 

By  the  favor  of  Surgeon  General  Barnes,  and  under  his  direction,  a  further  scientific 
investigation  of  this  disease  has  been  made  by  Lieutenant  Colonel  J.  J.  Wood \vard,  assistant 
surgeon  United  States  Army,  whose  report  on  the  pathological  anatomy  and  histology  of 
the  respiratory  organs  in  the  pleuropneumonia  of  cattle,  just  received,  is  here  presented,  in 
connection  with  six  micro-photographs  illustrating  the  condition  of  the  diseased  organs. 

Three  chromo-lithographs  accompany  the  report  upon  pleuropneumonia. 

These  reports  are  followed  by  a  statistical  history  of  the  splenic  fever,  or  Texas  cattle 
disease,  by  J.  R.  Dodge,  statistician  of  this  Department,  in  which  the  devastations  of  this 
peculiar  and  native  malady  arc  unmistakably  traced  back  into  the  eighteenth  century. 

It  need  not  be  presumed  that  these  investigations  are  conclusive  or  final ;.  on  the 
contrary,  some  practical  problems  not  yet  fully  demonstrated  urgently  demand  examina 
tion.  Among  these  are  the  best  mode  of  arresting  contagion  and  the  proper  regulation  of 
cattle  transportation  northward.  A  general  law  in  the  interest  of  the  public  health,  of  an 
enlightened  humanity,  and  of  the  cattle  trade,  should  regulate  the  transportation  of  cattle, 
not  only  from  the  Gulf  State3,  but  on  the  great  eastern  routes  and  throughout  the  country. 

HORACE  CAPRON, 

Commissioner, 

Hon.  SCHUYLER  COLFAX, 

President  of  the  Senate. 


REPORT  OF  PROFESSOR  GAMGEE  ON  THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 


SIR  :  The  lung  plague  of  cattle,  developed  alone  as  the  result  of  contagion,  recedes  and 
is  extinguished  wherever  the  people  are  fully  informed  of  its  origin  and  nature,  and  meas 
ures  based  on  such  knowledge  are  adopted  and  enforced.  Americans  can  learn  this  from 
Massachusetts.  It  is,  however,  the  most  insidious  and  the  most  deceptive  of  all  malignant 
bovine  disorders.  It  penetrates  and  travels 'far  and  wide,  where  unsuspecting  farmers  and 
dairymen  are  far  from  skilled  in  the  veterinary  art.  It  kills,  and  yet  there  are  survivors 
which  resist  all  further  attacks,  and  in  the  course  of  time  they  tend  to  form  a  small  but 
useful  nucleus  of  insusceptible  stock,  which  enables  the  people  to  go  on,  though  in  pov 
erty,  and  hope  for  better  luck.  Every  one  strives,  but  in  secret,  lest  the  publication  of 
facts  should  prevent  the  sale  and  transfer  of  unhealthy  or  infected  stock.  Long  Island, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  Virginia,  furnish  wide 
fields  in  which  to  determine  the  truth  of  these  statements. 

In  perusing  the  history  of  contagious  pleuropneumonia,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
experiences  of  the  New  World  are  but  repetitions  of  those  recorded  by  Europeans. 

In  advising  as  to  the  most  certain  means  whereby  so  destructive  a  malady  may  be 
eradicated  from  this  country,  I  have  been  actuated  by  the  belief  that  the  diffusion  of  knowl 
edge,  in  a  form  that  will  carry  conviction  home  to  every  intelligent  American,  is  the  most 
certain  means  whereby  to  deal  a  death  blow  to  the  lung  plague.  There  are  many  prudent 
and  earnest  leaders  of  the  agricultural  body  in  every  State,  who  can  work,  and  will  work, 
if  armed  with  reliable  information  ;  and  it  is  my  belief  in  this  that  has  induced  me  to 
spare  n'o  labor  in  rendering  this  as  complete  and  satisfactory  a  record  as  possible  of  all  the 
knowledge  on  the  subject  that  is  at  present  at  our  disposal.  Farmers  must  not  be  alarmed 
at  the  scientific  garb  which  must  necessarily  invest  such  a  work.  If  they  follow  me 
through,  without  a  dictionary,  they  will  not  be  left  in  doubt  as  to  my  meaning,  and  I  hope 
not  a  few  will  rise,  after  a  perusal  of  what  follows,  even  though  they  may  inhabit  the  far 
distant  prairies  and  the  mountains  of  California,  and  exclaim  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
American,  and  especially  of  every  American  farmer,  to  manifest  his  interest  in  the  extinc 
tion  of  a  malady  that  may  for  centuries,  if  left  unheeded  now,  harass  the  stock-raisers  of 
the  entire  continent,  and  bring  poverty  and  ruin  to  many  thousands  of  families. 

The  report  has  been  presented,  for  convenience  of  reference,  under  the  following 
heads : 

I.  Names  by  which  the  lung  plague  is«or  has  been  known  in  different  parts  of  the 
world. 

II.  History  of  the  lung  plague  from  the  remotest  to  the  present  time. 

III.  Signs  or  symptoms  by  which  the  disease  is  recognized  during  life. 

IV.  Signs  or  appearances  by  which  it  is  recognized  after  death. 


4  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

V.  How  the  disease  is  induced,  with  special  reference  to  predisposing  causes  and 
the  nature  of  contagion. 

VI.  The  pathology  or  nature  of  lung  plague. 
VII.  Medical  or  curative  treatment  of  the  lung  plague, 
VIII.  Prevention  of  the  lung  plague. 

NOMENCLATURE. 

The  popular  term  "murrain''  was  applied,  in  times  past,  to  all  fatal  cattle  diseases  that 
prevailed  in  an  epizootic  form.  The  first  satisfactory  description  of  the  lung  plague, 
written  by  Bourgelat,  in  1769,  teaches  us  that  the  malady  has  been  known  for  some  years 
in  Franche-Comtd,  under  the  name  "murie."  The  expression  "pulmonary  murrain'  has 
been  somewhat  extensively  used  in  Great  Britain  of  late  years,  especially  when  reference 
has  been  made  to  the  outbreaks  of  the  last  century,  which  have  been  considered  as  due  to 
the  simultaneous  introduction  into  the  British  Isles  of  the  Steppe  murrain,  commonly 
known  as  the  rinderpest  and  cattle  plague,  and  contagious  lung  disease. 

When  free  trade  first  admitted  continental  cattle  and  the  lung  plague  into  the  British 
Isles  within  this  century,  the  dairymen  who  first  observed  the  new  fatal  foot  and  mouth 
disease  at  once  became  alarmed  at  the  "new  disease,"  which  proved  incurable.  Professor 
Hertwig,  of  Berlin,  and  correspondents  of  agricultural  papers,  soon  enabled  our  veterina 
rians  to  recognize  in  the  "new  disease"  the  Lungenseuche,  or,  literally,  lungs'  plague  of 
cattle, which  had  been  studied  with  great  ability  by  the  veterinary  surgeons  of  Germany. 
Haller  had  termed  it  Viehseuche,  and  expressed  his  astonishment  that  it  had  not  been 
recognized  as  a  disease  of  the  lungs. 

German  writers  were  so  numerous  that  attempts  were  not  rare  to  give  a  scientific 
name  to  the  disease,  and  Sauberg  quotes  seven  Latin  sentences  employed  by  different  au 
thorities  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  disease.  They  are  : 

Peripneumonia  pecorum  epizootica  typhosa — Veith,  Tscheulin,  Burger. 

Peripneumonia  exsudativa  contagiosa — Rychner,  Van  Hertum. 

Peripneumonia  exsudativa  enzootica  et  contagiosa — Gielen. 

Peripneumonia  n.  pleuropneumonia  pecorum  enzootica — Dieterich,  Vix. 

Pleuritis  rheumatico-exsudativa — Wagenfeld. 

Pleuropneumonia  interlobularis  exsudativa — Gluge. 

Pneumonia  catarrhalis  gastrica  asthenica — Naumann. 

Haller's  title  of  Viehseuche  is  now  almost  always  restricted  to  the  Russian  murrain, 
and  the  name  in  universal  use  in  Germany  is  the  popular  one  of  Lungenseuche,  and  on 
the  title-pages  of  monographs  the  ordinary  expression  employed  is  Lungenseuche  des 
Rindviehes.  It  has,  however,  also  been  termed  Lungenfdule  and  Krebsartige  Lungenfdule. 

Of  the  French  authors,  Chabert  first  names  the  malady  Pcripneumonie,  ou  Affection 
gangrcneuse  du  poumon.  Huzard  describes  it  under  the  head  Pcripneumonie  chronique, 
ou  Phthisic  pulmonaire,  and  in  1844  Delafond  designated  it  Prripneumonie  contagieuse  du 
gros  betail. 

The  Dutch  called  it  Kioaadaardige  Slijmziekte,  Heerschende  or  Besmettelijlce  Long- 
ziekte,  Slijmziekte,  Slijmlongziekte,  and  Rotachtige  Longziekte. 

In  Italy  it  has  been  known  by  the  names  Pulmonea  dei  bovini,  and  Pleuropneumonia 
essudativa. 


THE  LUmJ  PLAGUE.  5 

I  am  disposed  to  favor,  as  a  popular  name,  that  of  "lung  plague,"  in  order  to  avoid 
any  confusion  with  sporadic  and  non-contagious  affections  of  the  chest.  Many  years  ago 
Mr.  Sarginson,  of  Westmoreland,  England,  spoke  of  it  as  an  epizootic  influenza  among 
cattle,  #nd  Mr.  Barlow,  afterward  a  much  respected  professor  in  the  Edinburgh  Veterin 
ary  College,  was  among  the  first  to  draw  attention  to  the  disease  under  the  head  epizootic 
pleuropneumonia. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 

Ancient  traditions  and  imperfect  records  rather  tend  to  bewilder  those  who,  from  the 
inferences  warranted  by  a  complete  knowledge  of  recent  events,  are  anxious  to  place  before 
the  world  evidence  of  the  laws  of  nature  having  been  immutable  from  time  immemorial. 
Our  ideas  of  creation,  and  the  facts  bearing  on  the  origin  of  all  things,  are  too  meager  to 
warrant  us  in  being  confident  of  our  interpretations  of  the  past ;  and  yet  glimpses  of  light 
seem  to  promise  a  better  understanding  of  even  antediluvian  phenomena  in  almost  every 
branch  of  natural  history. 

The  assertion  that  plagues  known  now  to  be  propagated  alone  by  contagion  have  thus 
been  transmitted  from  the  remotest  antiquity,  is  usually  met  by  objectors  with  the  declara 
tion  that  the  first  case  must  have  developad  spontaneously.  Professor  Haubncr,  of  Dres 
den,*  accepting  the  proposition,  says :  "It  is  correct  that  the  lung  plague  was  once  devel 
oped  spontaneously,  for  no  one  can  suppose  that  Noah  had  it  with  him  in  the  ark."  But 
we  can  point  to  a  contagious  disease,  scab  in  sheep,  which,  if  the  words  of  the  Bible  are 
to  be  accepted,  indicate  the  preservation  of  the  scab  insect.  It  is  not  my  desire  to  enter 
on  discussions  which  have  no  direct  practical  bearing,  and  I  shall  dismiss  the  objections  of 
those  who  spare  themselves  the  labor  of  inquiry  after  positive  truth,  by  declaring  that,  so 
far  as  science  has  yet  taught  us,  the  great  law,  that  like  produces  like,  operates  in  the 
increase  of  certain  animal  poisons  or  forms  of  specific  virus,  just  as  in  the  case  of  other 
living  entities  whose  reproduction  is  undoubted.  Spontaneous  generation — the  theory  of 
development  by  an  accidental  cohesion  and  vivifying  of  inert  matter — ably  as  it  has  been 
defended  up  to  the  present  day,  is  fast  passing  into  oblivion.  We  are,  and  must  probably 
remain,  in  ignorance  of  that  final  cause  which  once  molded  and  gave  life  to  all  that  is 
living.  All  that  is  living,  however,  owes  that  life  to  parents,  and  such  has  been  the  case 
ever  since  the  globe  became  inhabited ;  and  there  are  no  facts  to  indicate  that  one  form  of 
living  matter  grew  out  of  another,  and  a  totally  different,  form,  or  that  there  were  successive 
stages  in  the  creation  of  animals  or  parts  of  animals.  Animal  poisons  are  known  to  us, 
it  is  true,  only  as  parts  of  animals.  They  arc  undistinguishablc  except  from  the  results 
produced  by  them  on  the  creatures  they  infest,  and  yet  they  are  as  foreign  to  them  as  the 
countless  parasites  that  are  only  known  to  us  as  abiding  in  the  living  tissues  of  living 
beings.  Indeed,  animal  poisons  may  be  regarded  as  parasitic  productions,  and  their  dif 
ference  from  the  more  apparent  types  of  organized  entities  may  be  due  more  to  imperfect 
means  of  observation  than  to  actual  diversity. 

Efforts  are,  indeed,  being  made  to  demonstrate  the  vegetable  origin  of  many  animal 
poisons,  and  it  is  supposed  by  some  that  cryptogamic  plants,  fungi,  &c.,  not  only  approach 


'  Die  Entstehung  uml  Tilguug  der  Lungenseuche  des  Rimles,  von  Dr.  Karl  Haulmer,  Leipzig,  1861. 


6  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


more 


the  nature  of  many  forms  of  specific  virus,  but  actually  constitute  the  eontagium  or 
active  principle  which  breeds  and  propagates  in  the  development  of  small-pox,  cholera, 
the  plagues  of  the  lower  animals,  (fee.  There  is  one  grave  objection  to  all  that  has  yet 
been  done  in  this  interesting  field  of  inquiry.  The  vegetable  forms  into  which  poisons  are 
said  to  pullulate  have  not,  in  a  single  instance,  been  successfully  employed  in  the  repro 
duction  of  the  diseases  they  have  been  supposed  to  generate. 

Delafond*  quotes  Aristotle,  who  wrote  his  work  on  the  History  of  Animals  three 
hundred  and  fifty-four  years  before  Christ,  to  prove  that  cattle  were  then  known  to  suffer 
from  a  disease  of  the  lungs.  "The  cattle,"  he  says,  "which  live  in  herds  are  subject  to 
a  malady,  during  which  the  breathing  becomes  hot  and  frequent.  The  ears  droop,  and 
they  cannot  eat:  They  die  rapidly,  and  on  opening  them  the  lungs  are  found  spoiled." 

In  the  collection  of  extracts  and  writings  of  the  Greek  veterinarians,  made  by  order 
of  the  Emperor  Constantine,  descriptions  of  the  lung  diseases  of  cattle  are  given  which 
may  lead  us  to  infer  the  prevalence  even  then  of  the  lung  plague.f 

It  would  be  simply  waste  of  time  to  discuss  the  merits  of  unsatisfactory  hints — for 
they  are  not  records — which  have  been  traced  in  the  writings  of  Livy,  Vegetius,  Silius 
Italicus,  Columella,  Virgil,  and  others ;  hints  which,  no  doubt,  demonstrate  that  which 
few  will  question — that  pulmonary  disorders  have  existed  throughout  all  time. 

The  evidence  that  we  need  is  that  definite  record  of  outbreaks  of  a  malady  marked 
by  the  leading  characteristics  of  the  lung  plague.  We  have  to  skip  the  age  of  pure  quack 
ery,  when  nothing  but  the  unsatisfactory  prescriptions  of  ignorant  pretenders  in  veterinary 
medicine  were  handed  down  as  valuable  additions  to  human  knowledge.  A  purpose  is 
served,  however,  by  referring  to  these  dark  ages,  when,  in  their  blindness,  men  sought  to 
arrest  the  unrelenting  torrents  of  fierce  contagions  by  pills,  draughts,  charms,  and  incan 
tations.  It  makes  one  blush  for  the  errors  and  superstitions  which,  in  the  Old  World  and 
in  the  New,  have  prevailed  up  to  the  present  hour.  For  seven  and  twenty  years,  at  least, 
the  people  of  Great  Britain  have,  in  the  main,  favored  nothing  but  quackery  in  this  re 
spect,  just  as  much  as  continental  nations  that  suffered  in  ignorance  did  in  the  seventeen 
hundred  years  succeeding  the  birth  of  Christ.  So  late  as  1865  the  outbreak  of  a  virulent 
cattle  plague  in  England  developed  in  its  train  the  compounders  of  drugs  and  filth,  and  the 
believers  in  the  treatment  of  isolated  cases  of  a  plague  ;  of  a  plague,  indeed,  which  advances 
in  direct  ratio  to  the  delay  in  extinguishing  its  virulent  poison,  and  the  rapidity  of  whose 
spread  may  be  likened  to  that  of  the  confluent  mountain  waters  that  form  the  inland  seas  and 
navigable  streams.  Let  the  people  learn  from  the  ancient  history  of  veterinary  medicine,  as 
they  can  learn  from  recent  events,  that  to  dam  the  Mississippi  and  annihilate  its  waters  is 
quite  as  easy  a  process  as  attempting  to  save  a  country  from  incalculable  loss  by  the  med 
ical  treatment  of  isolated  cases  of  a  specific  and  contagious  cattle  plague. 

That  is  the  lesson  which  the  want  of  knowledge  regarding  the  lung  plague  in  the  first 
seventeen  hundred  years  of  the  Christian  era  impresses  upon  us  to-day.  The  wisdom 
of  that  conclusion  may  be  demonstrated  by  tracing  up  the  progress  of  the  malady  from 
1693  to  1869. 

*  Trait<5  sur  la  Maliulie  <le  Poitrine  du  Gros  Detail,  connne  sous  le  nom  de  Pe'ripneuinonie  G'outagieuse,  j>ar  O.  Dela- 
fond,  Paris,  1844. 

t  Gcopniiicoruiii,  sen  de  Re  Rustic*,  Lib.  XX — edited  by  Peter  Needhain,  Cambridge,  1704— Quoted  by  Sauberj;. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  7 

The  first  notice,  that  may  be  declared  less  unsatisfactory  than  all  preceding  ones,  of  the 
ravages  produced  by  an  epizootic  bovine  pleuropneumonia,  we  owe  to  Valentini.*  There 
is  a  fact  of  great  importance  in  relation  to  the  history  and  progress  of  pleuropneumonia 
that  writers  generally  have  overlooked.  Valentini's  remarks,  incomplete  as  they  are,  had 
been  anticipated  by  numerous  reports  concerning  the  spread  of  the  foot  and  mouth  disease, 
or  epizootic  aphtha?,  from  east  to  west.  As  contagious  cattle  diseases  travel  in  the  lines  of 
communication  established  by  war  or  trade,  so  do  they  appear  together  or  in  succession . 
according  to  their  nature,  the  length  of  their  period  of  incubation,  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  movement  of  cattle  is  conducted. 

It  will  serve  to  clear  up  many  points  of  doubt  if  this  point  is  understood.  Epizootic 
aphthae,  or  the  foot  and  mouth  disease,  (Maul  und  Klauenseuche  of  the  Germans,)  has  a 
short  latent  stage  of  two  or  three  days.  It  moreover  spreads  to  all  warm-blooded  animals, 
so  that  herds  infected  with  contagious  diseases  might  on  their  travels,  as  they  often  are, 
be  seized  by  this  malady,  and  then  the  Steppe  murrain  or  rinderpest,  which  has  a  latent 
stage  of  a  week,  or  the  lung  plague,  which  remains  latent  for  a  month,  six  weeks,  or  more, 
may  break  out  wherever  signs  of  communication  between  cattle  of  different  parts  have 
been  furnished  by  the  rapidly-evolving  and  curable  aphth.ee.  The  poison  of  one  disease 
does  not  counteract  or  prevent  the  accession  of  either  of  the  other  two,  and  one  animal 
may  have  the  three  maladies  in  succession.  In  Germany,  France,  Holland,  and  England, 
the  foot  and  mouth  disease  has  usually  preceded  outbreaks  of  lung  disease,  and  even  rin 
derpest.  In  America  this  has  not  been  the  case,  inasmuch  as  the  voyage  across  the  At 
lantic  has  usually  been  sufficient  to  purge  animals  of  the  contagion  of  epizootic  aphthae, 
even  if  they  had  been  shipped  with  the  disease  on  them,  which  is  not  likely,  from  its  very 
obvious  and  rapid  manifestations. 

It  is  necessary  to  make  one  more  remark  here,  which  may  serve  to  facilitate  the  accu 
rate  reading  of  the  history  of  cattle  plagues.  Although  the  lung  plague  has  undoubtedly 
prevailed  more  constantly,  and  -produced  a  total  mortality  greater  than  that  due  to  the 
Steppe  murrain,  nevertheless  the  rapid  slaughter  of  cattle  by  rinderpest  at  once  sets  people 
to  adopt  repressive  measures,  and,  both  by  killing  and  isolating  the  disease  itself,  tends  to 
supersede  other  cattle  pk-gues.  When  it  enters  a  country  like  Great  Britain,  where  all 
animals  which  had  a  slight  chance  of  contamination  from  public  markets  were  more  or  less 
infected  with  the  virus  of  lung  plague,  rinderpest  naturally  reached  those  spots  first,  cleared 
the  cattle  out,  and  extinguished  pleuropneumonia. 

Now  we  shall  see  that  the  histories  of  the  three  maladies  I  have  alluded  to  are  in 
many  points  practically  inseparable,  so  far  as  their  dissemination  in  Europe  is  concerned, 
and  this  fact  alone  would  suffice  to  induce  me  to  refer  to  the  American  outbreaks  separately. 

*  Writing  with  lint  a  small  selection  of  books  from  my  library,  I  am  in  a  position  to  give  only  a  second-hand  refer 
ence  to  Valentini's  observations,  and  their  importance  induces  me  to  reproduce  Heusingcr's  quotation  :  "  Pnecedeute 
hyeme  pluvioso,  sed  in  fine  gelidissimo,  sub  primo  vere  et  iusolitus  aeris  fervor  ingruebat,  qualis  ct  per  omnem  a-statis 
cursnm  observabatur ;  qua'  mutatio  subitauea  non  poterat  non  imcqualem  et  prieteruaturalem  humorum  et  spirituum 
motum  eausare,  quern  et  homiuum  et  brutorum  strages  insecuta  eat.  Boves  sani  et  vacca)  catervatim  succumbebaut, 
cujus  rei  causa  statuebatur  inter  alia  ros  corrosivns,  lintea  macnlis  plus  minus  luteis  conspurcans,  et  omninocorrodens. 
Ex  carnificnm  observatione  plerumqne  phthisi  pulmonali  necabantnr,  ad  qnani  sine  dubio  haustus  frigidie  copiosior 
post  ;estum  intensissiraum  multum  contribuere  poterat.  Hominibus  prater  dyscnteriam  et  febrcs  malignas  sub  finem 
Junii  et  initium  August!  hie  locorum  infensa  erat  febris  qsedam  intermitteus,  ut  plurimum  tcrtiaua."  Ephem.  Nat,  Cur. 
et  Sydenham,  opp.  ed  Geneva,  1,  p.  276— quoted  in  Eecherches  de  Pathologic  Compare* — Cassel,  1853. 


8  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

In  1686-'87  the  foot  and  mouth  disease.was  noticed  in  Silesia,  and  other  parts  of 
Eastern  Europe.  In  1695  Valentini  described  the  coincident  inflammation  of  the  feet  of 
cattle  and  aphthfe  in  man.*  And  thus  it  established,  beyond  doubt,  that  the  influences 
operating  in  the  transmission  of  contagious  pleuropneumonia  were  at  work  then.  Valen 
tini  committed  the  common  error  of  attributing  the  lung  plague  to  the  weather,  but  his 
reference  to  a  wide-spread  pulmonary  disorder  among  cattle  is  sufficiently  distinct  to  war 
rant  our  dissenting  from  Delafond  when  lie  says  that  nothing  can  authorize  the  conclu 
sion  that  the  disease  described  by  Valentini  was  the  pleuropneumonia  which  prevails  to 
day  among  horned  cattle. 

Sauberg,  whose  prize  essay  on  the  lung  plague  is  worthy  of  the  highest  praise,  draws 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  propagation  westward  of  the  Russian  murrain,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  directed  the  attention  of  the  most  learned  naturalists 
and  physicians  to  the  investigation  of  the  plagues  of  animals,  and  thus  a  marked  influence 
was  exerted  in  the  development  of  veterinary  science. 

Kanold,  Steurlin,  Ramazzini,  Lancisi,  Bates,  Lanzoni,  Sebroek,  Fischer,  Scheuchzer, 
Bottoni,  Muratori,  Camper,  Haller,  and  numerous  others,  have  contributed  to  enrich  the 
science  of  comparative  pathology  by  references  to  outbreaks  of  epizootic  aphtha3,  lung  plague, 
rinderpest,  variolous  fevers,  carbuncular,  and  other  diseases,  which  committed  great  havoc 
up  to  the  time  that  an  illustrious  Frenchman,  Bourgelat,  resolved  to  establish  a  college 
for  the  education  of  veterinary  surgeons.  All  references  to  the  contagious  pleuropneumo 
nia  are  of  little  practical  moment  until  we  come  to  the  labors  of  Bourgelat  himself.  He 
did  not,  it  is  true — as  no  one  ever  did — on  first  studying  this  disease,  recognize  its  con 
tagious  character.  He  met  with  it  in  Franche-Comte,  where  it  had  been  known  for  years 
under  the  name  of  "  murie."  He  described  it  as  distinguished  by  a  short  dry  cough,  much 
fever,  great  oppression,  especially  after  an  animal  has  eaten  anything,  loss  of  appetite, 
fetor  of  breath,  drynes.s  of  nose,  and  sometimes  discharge  of  thick  whitish  matter  from  the 
nostrils.  His  description  of  the  pleuritic  adhesions,  the  deposits  of  gelatinous  layers  of 
different  colors  around  the  lungs,  the  lividity  and  engorgement  of  the  lungs,  and  distension 
of  the  chest  by  a  reddish,  frothy,  sanious,  or  purulent  liquid,  is  entirely  satisfactory,  and 
indicates  how  much  in  advance  of  his  times  Bourgelat  was  in  his  description  of  this  malady. 
As  there  has  been  a  disposition  to  revive  the  treatment  of  the  lung  plague  by  fumigations, 
I  may  mention  that,  among  other  remedies,  Bourgelat  recommended  acetic  acid  to  be  used 
in  this  way. 

The  malady  which  had  thus  stationed  itself  in  France,  had  also  established  secure 
hold  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  we  learn  of  its  prevalence  in  1743  in  Zurich  and  the 
adjacent  cantons  of  Switzerland.  It  continued  to  invade  that  country  by  importations  from 
the  grand  duchy  of  Baden,  and  in  1773  the  great  physiologist,  Haller,  published  the  ablest 
memoir  on  this  disease  that  appeared  during  the  eighteenth  century .f  He  spoke  of  it  as 
a  lung  disease,  beginning  as  an  inflammation,  which  passes  into  gangrene,  or  at  other  times 
into  abscess  and  ends  in  a  true  marasmus.  "  It  is  very  wonderful,"  he  adds,  "  that  among 
the  many  modern  physicians  who  have  written  on  this  plague,  which  has  been  observed  so 
generally  and  for  so  long,  that  they  have  not  noticed  the  seat  of  the  disease  to  be  in  the 


*Sub  icquinoctio  autumnali  angiitito  decrepito,  iuflammatin  gliifriva-rmn,  liugiup  ft  oris  in  luiiiiiiiibnx,  in  brutia 
veriiui  pediun  iiiflammationra,  obscrvavi  liinc  intle. — Loc.  Cit. 

t  AbhamUuiiK  von  dcr  Viehseuche.     Von  Herrn  Alb.  Haller.     Hern,  1773. 


THE  LUNG  I'LAGUE.  9 

lungs."  Haller  determined  its  cause  and  said,  "Above  all,  we  must  abandon  all  hope  that 
the  lung  disease  is  not  a  contagious  disease.  *  *  *  *  *  At  all  events,  it  is  certain 
that  in  our  land,  as  often  as  the  lung  plague  has  appeared  among  cattle,  the  origin  of  the 
disease  has  always  been  traced  to  the  purchase  of  an  animal  from  a  suspected  market,  or 
to  one  brought  from  an  infected  district  into  our  land.  At  other  times  our  country  people 
have  fattened  cattle  with  other  cattle  from  infected  parts." 

It  is  hard  to  trace  the  course  of  a  disease  during  periods  when  little  attention  was 
paid  to  comparative  pathology.  From  1774  to  1776  the  lung  plague  prevailed  in  Tstria 
and  Dalmatia.*  Epizootic  aphthae  made  steady  inroads  from  Eastern  Europe  into  Austria 
and  other  parts  of  the  Continent.  From  1778  to  1784  pleuropneumonia,  no  doubt  very 
common  in  many  countries,  is  specially  referred  to  by  Kauset  and  Orus  as  in  Silesia  and 
Istria.  Its  course  during  this  and  subsequent  periods  was  involved  in  much  obscurity, 
owing  to  the  more  alarming  outbreaks  of  rinderpest,  which  absorbed  the  attention  of  scien 
tific  men,  and  also  tended,  by  the  wholesale  and  rapid  destruction  of  herds,  to  supersede 
the  more  insidious  pleuropneumonia.  Huzard  and  Vicq  d'Azyr  studied  the  malady  in 
1791,  and  report  that  in  the  years  1772, 1776,  1780,  1787, 1789,  1791,  and  1792  it  raged 
among  the  milch  cows  of  Paris  and  its  neighborhood.  Chabert  described  the  malady  in 
1793,  and  recognized  its  contagious  character,  cautioning  people  against  placing  healthy 
cattle  in  communication  with  sick  ones.  .  loggia  at  that  time  studied  the  malady  in  Italy, 
and  it  prevailed  in  Baden  during  the  years  1787,  1788,  1792,  1794,  and  1798.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  little  or  nothing  was  known  of  this  disease,  which  no  doubt  prevailed  in 
Russia  during  the  last  century  ;  and  we  are  left  to  draw  our  own  inference  as  to  its  probable 
prevalence  there,  from  indications  of  its  introduction  through  Poland  to  Prussia,  but  more 
frequently  into  Austria,  Wiirtemberg,  Switzerland,  Northern  Italy  and  France. 

Records  of  outbreaks  during  the  present  century  are  more  satisfactory.  Bojanus 
studied  the  malady  in  Lithuania,  and  Jeuen  first  saw  it  in  Russia  in  1824.  Haupt  witnessed 
it  repeatedly  in  Siberia,  and  Bussee  observed  it  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Petersburg  in 
1843,  1844,  1845,  and  1850. 

The  malady  invaded  Prussia  from  1802  to  1810,  and  was  described  by  Sick  in  Rudol- 
phi's  Observations  in  Natural  History  and  Medicine,  published  in  Berlin,  1804.  Diete- 
rich  witnessed  it  from  1815  to  1820,  and  Nogenfeld  published  in  his  work  on  the  disease 
official  reports  of  its  manifestations  in  the  Dantzig  district  from  1821  to  1831.  Gielen  saw 
the  lung  plague  in  1832,  at.Blandeuburg,  and  later,  from  1837  to  1843,  in  Saxony.  Sau- 
berg,  whose  prize  essay  I  have  so  often  quoted,  enters  into  very  minute  details  concerning 
the  outbreaks  of  pleuropneumonia  in  the  Rhine  provinces  of  Prussia,  from  1830  to  1840. 
Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  losses  he  had  to  report  on  may  be  derived  from  the  fact 
that  in  the  single  district  of  Diisseldorf  ten  thousand  head  of  cattle  were  lost  from  pleuro 
pneumonia  in  the  eight  years  from  1832  to  1840.  Gerlach  has  drawn  attention  to  this 
subject  in  Prussia  with  peculiar  diligence  since  1835,  and  remarks  that  he  has  watched 
personally  so  many  cases,  in  conjunction  with  historical  researches,  that  he  unhesitatingly 
pronounces  in  favor  of  the  view  that  pleuropneumonia  is  never  developed  spontaneously. 

The  lung  plague  prevailed  severely  in  Hanover  in  the  years  1807,  1808,  1809, 1810, 
1812,  1817,  1818.  In  1819  Hausmann  suggested  and  performed  experiments  in  the 

*  A.  Fauti,  sopra  1'epizoozia  bovina  in  alcnni  luoglii  dclla  Dalnmzia.    Modeua,  1776.     Heusinger  also  quotes  memoirs 
of  Orus  and  Lotti. 

2 


10  DEPAETMENT  OF  AGEICULTUEE. 

inoculation  of  the  disease,  which  never  resulted  in  practical  good.  Outbreaks  continued 
to  be  recorded  in  Hanover  at  short  intervals  from  1820  to  1843,  and  the  country  has 
never  been  altogether  free  since. 

The  malady  appeared  in  Saxony  in  1827,  and  has  often  raged  there  since,  as  shown 
in  the  writings  of  Haubner,  and  the  observations  made  by  Leisering  and  others. 

In  1862 1  made  a  careful  study  of  the  progress  of  pleuropneumonia  toward  the  British 
Isles  through  Holland,  and  it  is  from  these  two  countries  that  the  New  World,  Africa, 

O 

and  the  Australian  colonies  have  been  contaminated  within  the  past  quarter  of  a  century. 

The  disease  entered  Holland,  according  to  Numann,  the  director  of  the  veterinary 
school  at  Utrecht,  in  1833,  by  the  importation  of  cattle  affected  with  the  disease  from 
Prussia,  and  purchased  by  a  distiller,  Vandenbosch,  in  Gelderland.  In  1835  it  was 
transmitted  from  Gelderland  to  Utrecht,  thence  into  South  Holland,  and  it  raged  especially 
near  the  great  markets  of  Rotterdam  and  Schiedam.  The  Island  of  Zeeland  then  began 
to  suffer  wherever  cattle  were  injudiciously  imported  from  South  Holland,  and  some 
outbreaks  were  attributed  to  infected  cattle  from  South  Holland,  North  Brabant,  and 
West  Flanders  From  importations  of  infected  cattle,  the  lung  disease  attacked  the 
stock  on  a  few  farms  scattered  through  the  provinces  of  Drenthe,  Groningen,  and  Overyssel. 
It  was  as  late  as  1842  that  Friesland  was  attacked.  British  ports  were  thrown  open  to 
the  cattle  trade  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  the  demands  of  our  markets  caused  a  rush  of 
stock  through  and  from  the  northern  provinces  of  Holland,  which  infected  them  in  this 
year.  The  first  traces  of  pleuropneumonia  were  observed  at  Nejiga  and  Wurms.  The 
Dutch  government  ordered  the  slaughter  of  all  the  infected  cattle,  and  Friesland  again 
remained  free  of  the  disease  until  1845.  Then  the  British  trade  again  increased  ;  cattle 
were  passing  from  Overyssel  to  Harlingen,  and  in  the  month  of  December,  1845,  the 
malady  appeared  at  St.  Nicolunsga,  the  following  March  at  Mirus,  and  soon  after  at  Enk- 
huyscn.  Prevention,  by  slaughtering  diseased  cattle,  was  enforced  ;  the  authorities  in 
Overyssel  were  asked  to  adopt  similar  measures,  that  there  should  be  no  renewed  intro 
duction  of  disease  from  that  province.  The  cattle  trade  was  too  active,  and  no  sooner 
was  the  malady  extinguished  in  one  spot  than  it  appeared  at  others.  In  the  last  half  of 
the  year  1847  the  disease  broke  out  in  sixteen  stables  in  sixteen  different  districts.  A 
last  attempt  was  made  to  arrest  the  malady,  and  seven  hundred  and  three  sick  or  suspected 
animals  were  killed  and  buried.  Larger  and  larger  did  the  number  of  infected  stables 
become  as  the  cattle  dealers'  movements  increased.  In  1848  fifty-eight  different  outbreaks 
occurred.  By  1863  five  to  six  thousand  out  of  the  fourteen  thousand  stables  in  which  cattle 
are  kept  in  Friesland  had  been  visited  by  the  disease,  and  the  annual  mortality  rose  from 
5.25  per  thousand  in  1850  to  nearly  40  per  thousand. 

It  was  probably  somewhere  between  1839  and  1841  that  some  Dutch  cattle  were 
imported  into  the  county  of  Cork,  Ireland,  by  gentlemen  related  to  a  British  consul  at  the 
Hague  This  was  before  the  days  of  free  trade  in  stock,  and  the  animals  were  introduced 
under  some  special  permit.  Customs  of  this  early  period  have  their  representatives  in 
County  Cork  at  the  present  day,  and  my  inquiries  lead  me  to  believe  that  the  earliest 
of  these  importations  were  followed  by  the  manifestations  of  pleuropneumonia.  It  spread 
from  Cork  into  Limerick  in  1844,  and  thence  to  Carlow,  Kilkenny,  Tipperary,  Waterford, 
Wicklow,  Meath,  Galway,  and  Roscommon.  The  losses  in  Ireland  have  been  enormous, 
and  indeed  much  larger  than  in  England  and  Scotland.  The  north  of  Ireland  has  been 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  11 

more  free  than  the  south,  but  in  1844  cattle  were  imported  into  the  county  of  Tyrone  from 
Glasgow,  communicating  the  disease,  which  continued  till  1852.  Londonderry  suffered 
about  1849— '50,  and  here  and  there  in  all  other  counties,  not  excluding  Kerry,  the  intro 
duction  of  the  malady  by  traveling  or  purchased  cattle  has  occurred. 

While  the  lung  disease  was  thus  lighting  up  in  different  parts  of  Ireland,  it  was 
committing  great  ravages  in  England.  All  the  large  towns  containing  dairy  cows  suffered. 
Speedily  did  the  disease  pass  from  London  to  Manchester,  and  Birmingham  to  Liverpool, 
Leeds,  Sheffield  and  Newcastle.  It  was  in  the  month  of  November,  1843,  that  English 
cattle  carried  the  disease  into  Scotland  at  All-Hallow  Fair,  in  Edinburgh.  It  speedily 
passed  to  Glasgow,  Perth,  and  Aberdeen.  In  1844  it  reached  Inverness,  on  cattle  taken 
there  by  sea.  Thus  the  large  towns  and  their  vicinities  were  first  affected,  but  no  great 
interval  elapsed  before  farms  were  contaminated.  The  counties  of  Norfolk,  Lincolnshire, 
Derbyshire,  Lancashire,  Yorkshire,  and  Northumberland  were  all  affected  by  1844  and 
1845.  It  was  later  that  the  disease  entered  the  breeding  districts  of  Gloucestershire, 
Herefordshire,  and  Devon.  Cheshire  lost  early  and  much.  In  Scotland  it  was  1846  or 
1847  before  many  districts  in  such  counties  as  Lanarkshire  and  Ayrshire  had  the  disease. 
It  committed  great  ravages  in  Wigtown,  Renfrew,  Fife,  Perth,  Kincardine,  and  Aberdeen 
shires.  It  has  been  rarely,  and  on  a  few  farms,  in  such  counties  as  Argyle,  Banff,  Inver 
ness,  and  Caithness. 

The  losses  by  pleuropneumonia  have  amounted  during  the  past  seven-and-twenty 
years  to  as  high  as  two  million  pounds  sterling  per  annum  in  the  United  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  best  cattle  have  been  destroyed,  inasmuch  as  the  breed 
ing  cows  and  young  stocks  in  breeding  districts  beyond  the  range  of  infection  never  attain 
the  value  of  the  fine  milch  cows  and  fattened  steers  which  exist  in  milk-producing  and 
fattening  districts.  I  prepared  a  table  of  losses  in  88  dairies  in  the  city  of  Edinburgh, 
from  the  1st  of  July,  1861,  to  the  1st  of  July,  1862,  and  out  of  1,839  cows,  791  were 
sold  diseased  to  butchers,  and  284  were  sold  as  food  for  pigs.  The  total  value  of  the 
1,075  diseased  animals  when  first  bought,  at  the  very  moderate  average  of  £13  10s.  each, 
is  £14,512  10s.  There  was  realized  by  their  sale,  calculating  the  value  of  the  791  sold 
to  butchers  at  an  average  of  £5  each,  and  the  284  sold  for  pig-feeding  at  10  shillings  each, 
the  sum  of  £4,097.  The  net  annual  loss  by  diseased  cows  in  Edinburgh  alone  was,  there 
fore,  £10,415  10s.  Similar  losses  have  occurred  in  all  other  large  cities,  such  as  Dublin, 
London,  Liverpool,  Newcastle,  &c. 

From  England  and  Holland  the  disease  has  been  propagated  far  and  wide.  In  1847 
English  cattle  communicated  pleuropneumonia  to  Sweden,  and  in  1848,  it  appears,  from 
Sweden  to  Denmark.  Mr.  R.  Fenger,  a  Danish  veterinarian,  furnished  me,  in  1862,  with 
the  following  information:  "As  to  the  appearance  of  this  disease  in  the  Kingdom  of  Den 
mark,  it  is  an  established  i'act  that  it  has  taken  place  only  three  times  upon  three  different 
farms  where  cattle  had  been  introduced  from  abroad.  No  other  cattle  were  affected  than 
those  in  the  three  herds  alluded  to,  and  for  three  years  no  disease  has  appeared  in  Den 
mark.  As  to  the  spontaneous  origin  of  pleuropneumonia,  I  wish  to  draw  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  it  is  never  seen  in  the  town  of  Copenhagen,  notwithstanding  that  in  this 
place  there  are  large  dairies  where  the  cows  are  fed  on  draff  from  distilleries,  and  are  kept 
in  a  state  contrary  to  any  which  sanitary  rules  might  suggest.  In  the  dukedom  of  Schles- 
wig  the  disease  has  been  imported  several  times,  and  last  from  England,  and  occasionally 


12  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

lias  spread  rather  widely.  This  autumn  the  cattle  of  thirty  different  places  in  Schleswig 
have  been  kept  in  a  kind  of  quarantine/' 

In  1858  an  agricultural  society  in  Oldenburg  purchased  some  Ayrshires  to  distribute 
among  its  members  for  breeding  purposes.  Wherever  these  animals  went  they  communi 
cated  disease.  Oldenburg  has  kept  very  free  from  pleuropneumonia  from  the  activity  with 
which  the  infected  animals  are  destroyed  at  the  outbreak  of  disease.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  Meckleuburg-Schwerin  and  Schleswig-Holstein.  With  regard  to  the  latter  prov 
ince,  it  transpires  that  in  1859  some  Ayrshire  cattle  imported  in  the  vicinity  of  Tondern 
communicated  pleuropneumonia. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1860,  an  agent  of  the  Norwegian  government  purchased  a 
number  of  Ayrshire  cattle  ;  they  were  taken  to  the  Royal  Agricultural  College  at  Aas,  and 
in  the  commencement  of  November  pleuropneumonia  broke  out  among  them.  Dr.  Oluf 
Thesen  has  informed  me  that  he  limited  the  disease  to  the  college  by  destroying  the  native 
cattle  with  which  the  Ayrshire  stock  had  come  in  contact,  and  keeping  the  Ayrshire  ani 
mals  to  themselves.  Norway  had  been  exempt  from  this  cattle  plague,  and  owing  to  Pro 
fessor  Thesen's  activity  it  now  enjoys  the  same  immunity. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1858,  Mr.  Boodle,  farmer,  near  Melbourne,  imported  a 
cow  from  England;  she  landed  in  good  condition  and  gave  milk.  She  died  of  pleuro- 
pnenmoni:i  six  weeks  after  her  arrival.  Two  other  head  of  cattle  belonging  to  Mr.  Boodle 
died  ;u  December,  and  another  in  January.  The  disease  continued  to  spread,  and  the 
losses  have  been  enormous  and  almost  incessant  in  Victoria  and  even  in  New  South  Wales. 

HISTORY    OF    THE    LUNG    PLAGUE    IN   AMERICA. 

The  first  notice  of  the  lung  plague  in  the  United  States  dates  back  to  1843,  when  a 
German  cow,  imported  direct  from  Europe,  and  taken  from  shipboard  into  a  Brooklyn 
cattle  shed,  communicated  the  disease,  which,  it  is  said  and  believed,  has  prevailed  more  or 
less  in  Kings  County,  Long  Island,  ever  since. 

In  1847  Mr.  Thomas  Richardson,  of  New  Jersey,  imported  some  English  stock.  Signs 
of  disease  were  noticed  Boon,  and  the  whole  of  Mr.  Richardson's  stock,  valued  at  $10,000, 
were  slaughtered  by  him  to  prevent  an  extension  of  the  plague. 

In  1850  a  fresh  supply  of  the  lung-plague  poison  reached  Brooklyn  from  England  in 
the  system  of  an  imported  cow. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Chenery,  of  Belmont,  Massachusetts,  has  related  the  history  of  the  intro 
duction  of  lung  plague  from  Holland  into  Massachusetts  in  1859.  Four  cows  were  pur 
chased  for  him  at  Purmerend  and  Beemster,  shipped  at  Rotterdam  early  in  April  on  board 
the  bark  J.  C.  Humphreys,  which  arrived  in  America  on  the  23d  of  May,  1859.  Two  of 
the  cows  were  driven  to  Belmont;  the  other  two  had  to  be  transported  on  wagons,  owing 
to  their  "extremely  bad  condition,"  one  of  them  "not  having  been  on  her  feet  during  the 
twenty  days  preceding  her  arrival."  On  the  31st  of  May,  it  being  deemed  impossible 
that  this  cow  could  recover,  she  was  slaughtered,  and  on  the  2d  of  June  following  the 
second  cow  died.  The  third  cow  sickened  on  the  20th  of  June,  and  died  in  ten  days.  The 
fourth  continued  in  a  thriving  condition.  A  Dutch  cow,  imported  in  1852,  was  the  next 
one  observed  ill,  early  in  the  month  of  August  following,  and  she  succumbed  on  the  20th. 
Several  other  animals  were  taken  sick  in  rapid  succession,  and  then  it  was  that  the  idea 
was  first  advanced  that  the  disease  was  identical  with  that  known  in  Europe  as  epizootic 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  13 

pleuropneumonia."  Mr.  Chenery  then  did  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  the  spread  of  dis 
ease  from  his  farm.  The  last  case  at  the  Highland  farm,  Belmont,  occurred  on  the  8th  of 
January,  1860. 

In  June,  1859,  Curtis  Stoddard,  of  North  Brookfield,  bought  three  young  cattle,  one  bull 
and  two  heifers,  from  Mr.  Chenery.  One  calf  showed  signs  of  sickness  on  the  way  home. 
Leonard  Stoddard,  father  of  Curtis,  thinking  he  could  better  treat  the  sick  calf,  took  it  to  his 
own  barn,  where  he  had  forty-eight  head,  exclusive  of  calves,  and  with  which  the  calf  mingled. 
One  animal  after  another  was  attacked,  till  the  12th  of  April,  when  thirteen  head  had  died, 
and  most  of  the  remainder  were  sick.  The  disease  continued  to  spread  from  farm  to  farm 
as  rapidly  as  circumstances  favored  the  admixture  of  stock.  The  period  of  incubation  in 
well-defined  cases  varied  from  nineteen  to  thirty-six  days,  and  averaged  twenty-six  and 
two-thirds  days. 

The  people  of  Massachusetts,  a  little  slow  at  first,  overcame  the  delays  incident  to 
legislation,  established  a  commission  for  the  purpose  of  exterminating  the  disease,  and  an 
appropriation  of  $10,000  was  placed  under  the  control  of  the  commissioners  on  the  4th  of 
April,  1860.  The  disease  was  gaining  ground  rapidly,  and  a  bill  to  extirpate  the  disease 
passed  its  several  stages  and  was  approved  on  the  same  day.  Commissioners  were  ap 
pointed  ;  herds  were  examined  by  surgeons,  and,  if  infected,  slaughtered  ;  the  animals  pro 
nounced  healthy  at  the  time  of  inspection  were  paid  for  ;  all  the  money  appropriated  was 
spent,  and  such  was  the  feeling  then  in  Massachusetts  that  private  gentlemen  made  themselves 
responsible  for  a  second  amount  of  nearly  $20,000.  An  extra  session  of  the  legislature  was 
called  for  the  13th  of  May.  Fresh  powers  were  sought  and  obtained,  additional  commission 
ers  were  appointed,  and  the  disease  was  apparently  exterminated.  It  reappeared  in  1861,  a 
new  board  of  commissioners  was  appointed,  and  further  successful  efforts  were  made  to 
prevent  the  disease.  On  the  24th  of  December,  1863,  Mr.  Charles  L.  Flint,  in  a  letter  to  Gov 
ernor  Andrew,  asserted  that  pleuropneumonia  still  existed  in  twelve  or  fifteen  towns  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.  Mr.  E.  T.  Thayer,  to  whom  the  people  of  Massa 
chusetts  owe  much  for  his  skill  and  industry  as  the  veterinary  commissioner,  and  Mr. 
Charles  P.  Preston,  wrote  their  final  report  to  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  of 
Massachusetts  on  the  30th  of  December,  1867.  In  that  report,  in  tendering  their  resig 
nations  to  the  governor,  they  congratulate  the  people  on  the  success  which  had  been  in 
sured  by  efficient  co-operation  "  in  eradicating  one  of  the  worst  forms  of  contagious  disease 
which  has  been  found  among  cattle." 

From  numerous  inquiries  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  in  rny  mind  that  the  lung 
disease  has  continued,  ever  since  its  first  introduction,  to  attack  some  of  the  numerous 
dairies  on  Long  Island.  One  of  the  best  informed  dairymen  in  Brooklyn  informed  me 
that,  three  months  after  starting  in  business,  sixteen  years  ago,  he  lost  eleven  out  of  twelve 
cows  he  had  purchased  in  Newark,  New  Jersey.  He  bought  more  and  began  to  inoculate 
with  excellent  results.  Other  people  were  losing,  and  he  established  himself  on  Jamaica 
Pond  to  be  clear  of  every  one.  When  he  stopped  inoculating  the  disease  reappeared.  Mr. 
Benjamin  Babbit,  of  Lafayette  avenue,  was  the  first  to  inoculate  after  the  introduction  of  this 
practice  in  Europe,  and  many  dairymen  adopted  it.  The  board  of  health  opposed  the 
practice,  as  many  of  the  cow.s  lost  portions  of  the  tail,  and  reports  were  made  of  blood  and 
matter  finding  their  way  into  the  milk-pail.  The  disease  has  never  ceased,  and  I  have 
visited  many  dairies,  in  all  of  which,  at  one  time  or  another,  and  in  most  of  which  during 


14  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGKICULTURE. 

the  present  year,  the  disease  has  prevailed.  In  five  dairies  I  examined,  within  one  hun 
dred  yards  of  each  other,  I  found  one  or  two  sick  cows  .in  each.  The  Hartford  Insurance 
Company,  which  has  recently  suspended  operations,  lost  heavily  on  the  insurance  of  cows 
from  the  prevalence  of  this  disease,  and  that  company  objected  also  to  the  practice  of 
inoculation. 

From  Mr.  Bedell's  statement  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  existence  of  the  contagious 
pleuropneumonia  in  New  Jersey  when  he  first  bought  his  cattle.  Mr.  Robert  Jennings, 
veterinary  surgeon,  had  his  attention  drawn  to  the  disease  on  its  appearance  in  Camden 
and  Gloucester  Counties,  New  Jersey,  in  the  year  1859.  In  1860  it  crossed  the  Delaware 
River  into  Philadelphia,  spreading  very  rapidly  in  all  directions,  particularly  in  the  southern 
section  of  the  county  known  as  "  The  Neck" — many  of  the  dairymen  losing  one-third  to 
one-half  of  their  herds.  The  sale  of  sick  cattle  continued,  as  it  always  does,  unless  pre 
vented  by  rigid  laws.  In  1861  the  malady  appeared  in  Delaware,  and  in  Burlington 
County,  New  Jersey,  and  the  disease  could  be  distinctly  traced  to  the  Philadelphia  market. 

The  records  of  outbreaks  are  by  no  means  satisfactory,  but  a  gentleman  well  known 
in  Maryland,  Mr.  Martin  Goldsborough,  informs  me  that  the  malady  has  been  very 
destructive  on  many  farms  of  that  States  for  the  past  three  years.  Individuals  have  lost 
their  entire  herds,  in  some  cases  numbering  twenty-four,  thirty,  and  as  high  as  forty-seven 
heUd.  Last  year  an  effort  was  made  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  legislature  of  Maryland 
to  the  subject,  with  a  view  to  the  adoption  of  successful  measures,  but  without  effect. 
Mr.  Goldsborough's  statement  is  to  the  effect  that  the  disease  in  Maryland  is  due  to  the 
purchase  of  cattle  in  the  Philadelphia  market. 

There  is  no  doubt  of  the  great  prevalence  of  the  malady  for  some  years  in  Pennsyl 
vania.  I  have  seen  it  on  two  farms  in  Delaware  County,  and  it  has  been  on  several  others 
recently.  Bucks  County  has  suffered  much  for  two  years.  A  correspondent  informs  me 
that  in  March,  1867.  a  drove  of  cows  was  taken  into  that  county,  and  one  of  them  was 
observed  to  be  sick.  These  animals  were  distributed  among  the  farmers,  and  soon  the 
plague  appeared  in  all  directions.  An  effort  was  made  then  to  secure  the  aid  of  the  State 
legislature,  without  effect,  and  to  this  day  the  disease  is  in  Bucks  County.  The  last  case 
I  have  to  report  is  at  Newtown,  Bucks  County,  where  the  disease  was  introduced  by  cows 
bought  in  the  Philadelphia  market. 

That  the  malady  has  attained  such  proportions  as  to  deinand  constant  attention,  apart 
from  the  fact  that  but  one  case  on  the  whole  continent  is  a  source  of  incalculable  danger, 
is  proved  by  a  circular  recently  issued  by  gentlemen  in  Westchester,  Pennsylvania,  and 
which  is  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  reproduced  here  : 

I'leitropiiriimoiiia. — The  great  increiuie  in  the  disease  known  as  plenropneumoiim  among  cattle  within  a  few  years 
past,  its  highly  contagious  character,  and  the  acknowledged  inability  of  the  most  skillful  veterinary  surgeons  to  con 
trol  or  in  the  least  mitigate  its  severity  in  certain  stages  of  the  disease,  call  for  immediate  and  earnest  attention  from 
the  community.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  cupidity  of  many  induces  them  as  soon  as  the  disease  develops  itself 
on  their  premises  to  hurry  off  their  stock  (diseased  as  well  as  those  not  diseased)  to  the  nearest  drove-yard,  to  be  there 
sold  for  whatever  they  will  bring ;  'to  be  either  sold  as  food  or  driven  off  to  new  sections,  and  there  to  infect  and  poison 
other  animals  with  which  they  may  come  in  contact. 

With  the  view  of  arresting  this  increasing  and  wide-spreading  evil,  the  undersigned,  a  committee  of  the  "  Mutual 
Live  Stock  Insurance  Company  of  Chester  County,"  an  institution  established  purely  for  mutual  assistance  and  pro 
tection,  respectfully  invite  your  co-operation  in  procuring  such  action  at  the  hands  of  our  next  legislature,  by  the 
passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the  appointment  of  a  suitable  number  of  qualified  and  conscientious  inspectors  through 
out  the  State,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine  thoroughly  all  animals,  especially  those  offered  for  sale,  wherever 
they  may  be,  and  to  subject  those  offering  such  diseased  animals  to  both  fine  and  imprisonment,  and  to  take  such  other 
measures  an  may  l>e  deemed  necessary  to  effect  the  entire  extirpation  of  the  diseii.se  from  our  midst. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  15 

I  can  corroborate  the  statements  made  as  to  the  sale  of  cattle  that  are  infected.  Not 
only  has  this  occurred  often  where  the  disease  has  been  most  rife  for  years  past,  as  on 
Long  Island,  but  recently,  in  making  inquiries  in  Delaware  County,  Pennsylvania,  I 
learned  of  three  cows  which  had  been  sold  "  healthy"  (?)  out  of  an  infected  herd.  Such  a 
practice  explains  the  progress  of  the  disease  even  further  south  than  Maryland. 

I  have  been  informed  that  the  malady  has  traveled  as  far  west  as  Kentucky  and 
Ohio,  but  of  this  I  have  not  been  able,  in  the  brief  time  since  I  commenced  the  inquiry, 
to  obtain  satisfactory  evidence.  I  have  taken  some  pains  to  ascertain  if  the  disease  had 
reappeared  in  Massachusetts,  and  personal  inquiries  in  various  parts  of  the  State  show 
that  it  is  quite  free  from  the  disease,  thanks  to  the  energy  of  its  people  and  the  enlightened 
action  of  its  legislature. 

The  conclusions  that  are  warranted  by  the  facts  I  have  gleaned  are  as  follows  : 

First.  That  the  lung  plague  in  cattle  exists  on  Long  Island,  where  it  has  prevailed 
for  many  years  ;  that  it  is  not  uncommon  in  'New  Jersey ;  has  at  various  times  appeared 
in  New  York  State ;  continues  to  be  very  prevalent  in  several  counties  of  Pennsylvania, 
especially  in  Delaware  and  Bucks  ;  has  injured  the  farmers  of  Maryland,  the  dairymen 
around  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  has  penetrated  into  Virginia. 

Second.  That  the  disease  travels  wherever  sick  cattle  are  introduced,  and  that  the 
great  cattle-rearing  States  of  the  West,  which  may  not  at  present  be  entirely  free  from  the 

disease,  have  been  protected  by  the  fact  that  they  sell  rather  than  buy  and  import  horned 
stock. 

Third.  There  are  no  proper  restrictions  on  the  sale  of  infected  stock,  and  in  another 
year  or  two,  unless  some  definite  and  immediate  action  should  be  taken,  the  disease  is 
likely  to  find  its  way  into  so  many  parts  of  the  country  that  its  eradication  will  be  almost 
impossible. 

Of  all  the  cattle  diseases  pleuropneuinonia  is  in  the  long  run  the  most  destructive, 
because  the  most  insidious  and  the  least  likely  to  rouse  a  people  to  united  action  for  its 
effectual  suppression.  To  ignore  its  presence  is,  however,  to  insure  that  the  cattle  mortal 
ity  of  America,  like  that  of  England,  will  be  at  least  doubled  within  a  few  years.  Rational 
means,  energetic  action,  and  earnest  co-operation  between  the  different  States  and  the  cen 
tral  government,  may,  with  a  moderate  expenditure  now,  save  many  millions  annually  in 
the  not  distant  future. 

For  three  years  past  the  city  of  Washington,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  District  of  Colum 
bia,  with  adjoining  parts  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  have  been  seriously  affected  with  the 
lung  plague.  It  is  gleaned  from  the  contractors  who  clean  the  city  of  the  carcasses  of  dead 
animals,  that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  have  several  dead  cows  in  a  day  from  the  Washing 
ton  dairies  ;  that  to  have  a  dozen  a  week  has  not  been  unusual,  during  certain  seasons,  and 
that  the  supply  is  constant.  Unfortunately,  as  in  other  cities  of  America  and  Europe, 
the  prevalence  of  pleuropneumonia  results  in  a  wholesale  traffic  in  such  animals.  Sick 
cows  are  sold  to  butchers,  and  if  in  good  condition  command  thirty  to  sixty  dollars  ;  others 
that  are  too  lean  are  taken  in  the  early  stage,  mixed  with  other  stock,  and  sent  by  railroad 
to  Baltimore,  to  be  sold  as  stock  cows  to  farmers.  In  fact,  the  active  and  unremittent 
traffic  in  sick  cattle  insures  that  Washington,  the  neighborhood  of  Alexandria,  in  Virginia, 
and  Baltimore,  will  continue  to  be  great  breeding  centers  of  pleuropneumonia.  Some  idea 
of  the  heavy  losses  in  the  Washington  district  may  be  gleaned  from  a  table  annexed, 
prepared  by  a  Washington  dairyman.  (See  Appendix  at  close  of  this  report.) 


16  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

SIGNS  OR  SYMPTOMS  DURING  LIFE. 

It  is  necessary  to  draw  special  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  States  or  on  farms  where 
the  lung  plague  has  never  before  existed  it  is  the  more  readily  recognized,  in  the  earlier 
stages,  as  in  case  of  other  epizootics,  the  more  complete  the  history.  The  fact  that  cattle 
have  been  recently  purchased,  or  that  drift  cattle  have  crossed  the  farm  or  prairie,  the 
knowledge  of  the  existence  of  such  a  disease  in  adjoining  States  or  farms,  or  of  sick  cattle 
being  sold  by  auctions  or  in  the  markets,  are  all  most  important  elements  in  guiding  to  a 
correct  conclusion  as  to  the  nature  of  the  disease. 

Very  frequently  an  animal  is  bought,  placed  among  others,  dies,  and  the  remaining 
cattle  cough,  get  out  of  condition,  and  some  soon  sicken.  The  purchased  animal  may  show 
no  signs  of  illness,  however ;  it  may  be  suffering  from  a  latent  form  of  the  disease,  or  it 
may  be  in  the  convalescent  stage,  and  gaining  flesh  daily. 

A  dairyman,  especially  in  a  large  town,  may  have  had  pleuropneumonia  among  his 
cattle,  which  had  subsided,  and  his  stock,  composed  of  animals  that  had  withstood  the  dis 
ease,  might  be  regarded  as  healthy.  But  some  still  discharge  a  degree  of  poison,  and  infect 
the  atmosphere,  and  a  newly  bought  animal  dates  the  period  of  the  incubation  of  the  mal 
ady  from  the  moment  it  entered  the  stable. 

The  incubation  of  the  disease  may  be  said  to  vary  from  eight  or  nine  days  to  three  or 
four  months.  In  the  inoculated  malady  the  exudation  commences  sometimes  as  early  as 
the  fifth  day,  more  commonly  about  the  ninth  or  twelfth,  and  it  may  be  as  late  as  thirty 
or  forty  days.  In  the  disease  communicated  by  cohabitation,  a  cough,  to  which  very 
special  attention  was  drawn  by  the  experiments  of  the  French  commission  on  contagion, 
supervenes  about  the  ninth  day  and  later.  It  is  usually  noticed  by  cow-feeders,  who  buy 
cows  which  have  just  calved,  that  they  drop  with  the  disease  about  the  time  they  should 
manifest  oestrum,  that  is  to  say,  six  weeks  after  their  admission. 

There  are  false  and  true  periods  of  incubation  of  the  lung  plague.  And  this  has  been 
overlooked  too  much  in  descriptions  of  the  disease.  The  actual  incubation  is  from  the 
period  of  contamination,  by  contact  or  inoculation,  to  the  moment  that  a  special  morbid 
change  commences.  Our  means  of  observation  have  not  been  exact  enough,  and  it  is  very 
desirable  that  thcrmometric  observations  should  be  made  on  experimental  animals,  and 
these,  with  the  ordinary  phenomena  derived  by  auscultation,  etc.,  will  assure  us  of  the 
actual  length  of  the  stage  of  the  lung  disease  which  is  unattended  by  any  appreciable  sign. 
We  shall  then  know  the  true  period  of  incubation.  The  false  periods  of  incubation  are 
those  derived  by  persons  from  observing  an  animal  to  sicken,  say  four  months  after  pur 
chase,  and  drawing  the  conclusion  that  this  period  represents  the  incubation  stage.  As  a 
rule  in  such  cases,  two  or  three  latent  instances  of  the  disease  have  preceded  the  obvious 
one.  Then,  again,  the  period  of  incubation  is  not  usually  stated  correctly  by  farmers,  as 
they  overlook  the  first  signs  of  the  disease,  which  occur  several  days  before  cessation  of 
appetite,  secretion  of  milk,  &c. 

Invasion  of  the  lung  plague  is  characterized  by  local  phenomena  which  most  frequently 
show  themselves  by  the  cough  already  referred  to.  With  one  of  Casella's  self-registering 
thermometers  it  will  be  found  that  in  an  infected  herd  some  animal  or  animals  in  apparent 
health,  which  no  one  suspects  to  be  diseased,  will  manifest  a  temperature  of  104°  or  105° 
Fahrenheit.  I  have  never  seen  a  case  in  which,  when  the  temperature  was  thus  elevated, 


THE  LUNG   PLAGUE. 


17 


I  could  not  detect  friction  sounds,  loud  respiratory  murmurs,  especially  at  the  lower  part 
of  the  trachea  and  involving  one  lung.  It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  to  notice  the  want  of 
faith  of  some  persons  who  watch  the  separation  of  such  cattle,  with  great  doubt  as  to  the 
correctness  of  the  observation.  In  rinderpest  the  elevation  of  temperature  occurs  before 
all  other  signs,  and  to  a  less  marked  extent  this  is  the  same  with  splenic  fever ;  but  in 
pleuropneumonia  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  acute  observation  would  reveal  first  the 
local  change  and  then  the  fever. 

In  order  to  show  the  value  of  the  thermometer  in  this  disease,  I  subjoin  the  observa 
tions  made  by  me  on  two  herds  of  cows  suffering  from  it,  and  which  I  inoculated  on  the 
26th  of  February,  1869,  at  Alexandria  : 


Mlt.  BIEMULLERS  COWS. 


.Ml!.   JilvIU  S   CWV> 


Xo. 
1  

•  Fahr. 
101.4 

No. 

1 

Mir. 
101  5 

2  

102 

2 

101  8 

:j  

102 

3 

102  6 

4  

101 

4 

101  4 

5  

101.6 

5 

101 

C  

102.3 

(j 

102  2 

7  

102 

7 

102 

8  

101.8 

g 

101  8 

9 

.  .  104.4 

9 

102 

10  

102.  6 

10 

102  8 

11  '.  

101 

11 

105  2 

12  

102 

12 

101  4 

13  

101.6 

13 

101  3 

14  

105.6 

14 

103 

15  

103.  6 

15 

100  6 

lf>  

101.3 

16 

101  8 

17  

101 

17 

102  2 

18  

101.3 

18 

101  8 

19  

104.4 

19 

102  6 

20.. 

102  2 

''0 

101 

21  .. 

.  101 

Of  Reid's  cows,  JSTos.  11  and  14  were  sick,  and  of  Biemiiller's,  Nos.  9,  14,  15,  and 
19.  Some  doubt  exists  as  to  No.  19;  I  had  not  opportunity  of  seeing  her  again.  Mr. 
Reid  thinks  she  might  have  been  at  heat,  but  from  the  indications,  however  slight,  asso 
ciated  with  the  elevation  of  temperature,  I  believe  it  was  one  of  the  numerous  latent  cases 
which  the  thermometer  alone  reveals  to  us.  Nos.  14  and  15  were  in  the  earliest  stages  of  the 
malady,  and  both  grew  worse,  suffered  for  three  weeks,  and  then  recovered. 

OBVIOUS    PREMONITORY    SIGNS. 

The  obvious  premonitory  signs  are  shivering  fits,  as  in  ordinary  fever,  but  their  tran 
sient  and  mild  character  lead  to  their  often  being  passed  unnoticed.  The  animal's  coat 
looks  dull,  staring,  and  the  skin  is  often  rigid.  An  occasional  cough  of  a  dry  and  harsh 
character  is  noticed,  and,  when  inspecting  a  herd  in  a  field,  if  the  cattle  are  made  to  move 
briskly,  several  will  be  found  to  cough.  For  some  days  the  cattle  appear  to  thrive  well, 
and  milch  cows  yield  a  copious  amount  of  milk.  It  has  been  remarked  that  they  appear 
full — indeed  fuller  in  the  early  morning  than  other  animals  which,  like  them,  had  not  fed 
since  the  previous  evening.  The  excrement  is  dry,  and  urine  somewhat  scanty. 

An  expert  dairymaid,  in  the  habit  of  milking  cows  where  the  disease  prevails,  is  apt 
3 


18  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

to  notice,  as  the  malady  declares  itself,  tliat  there  is  some  stiffness,  and  the  milk  is  not  so 
freely  drawn  as  usual.     The  quantity  of  this  secretion  then  diminishes. 

The  progress  of  the  malady  is  then  characterized  by  loss  of  appetite,  altered  gait, 
segregation  of  the  sick  from  the  healthy  in  the  field,  the  sick  standing  with  their  elbows 
turned  outward,  their  feet  drawn  forward,  neck  and  head  extended,  and  nostrils  somewhat 
convulsively  expanded  at  each  inspiration.  There  is  quickness  of  breathing,  especially  if 
the  animal  is  even  slightly  disturbed,  and  on  the  slightest  movement  there  is  an  audible 
grunt.  The  expression  of  countenance  indicates  uneasiness  or  absolute  pain,  and  the  eyes 
are  prominent  and  fixed.  The  pulse  rises  to  seventy,  eighty,  and  even  one  hundred  beats 
per  minute.  In  hot  tow-sheds  the  pulse  is  more  frequent  than  in  the  open  field  in  healthy 
cattle,  and  a  corresponding  increase  is  seen  in  this  disease  under  similar  circumstances. 
The  respirations  rise  to  thirty-five  and  forty  per  minute,  are  labored,  audible,  and  each 
expiration  is  often  associated  with  a  short  characteristic  grunt.  This  grunt  is  especially 
marked  if  the  sides  of  the  chest  or  the  spine  are  pressed;  and  many  yoars  ago  Lecoq 
showed  that  graziers  regarded  this  as  a  decisive  symptom  of  the  malady.  A  somewhat 
watery  discharge  from  the  nose,  increased  in  the  act  of  coughing,  is  noticed  early  in  the 
disease,  and  driving  sick  cattle  in  the  earliest  stage  produces  much  thirst,  and  there  is  a 
ropy  saliva  discharged  from  the  mouth.  The  muzzle  is  hot  and  dry. 

Cattle  suffering  from  this  disease  are  readily  identified,  as  it  advances,  by  persons 
who  have  seen  a  few  cases.  They  stand  motionless,  with  protruding  head,  arched  back, 
extended  fore  limbs,  with  elbows  turned  as  far  out  as  they  can  be  held,  and  the  hind 
limbs  drawn  under  them,  with  knuckling  at  the  near  hind  or  both  hind  fetlocks.  When 
lying,  especially  in  the  latter  stages  of  the  disease,  they  rest  on  their  brisket  or  lie  on  the 
affected  side,  leaving  the  ribs  on  the  healthy  side  of  the  chest  as  much  freedom  of  motion 
as  possible. 

As  the  disease  advances  the  pulse  gets  more  frequent  and  feeble,  and  the  heart's 
beats,  which  are  at  first  subdued,  become  marked  and  palpitating,  as  in  cases  of  poverty 
or  anaemia.  The  membranes  of  the  eyes,  mouth,  and  vagina  are  usually  pallid,  though 
the  membrane  of  the  nose  is  often  red.  The  tongue  is  foul,  covered  with  fur,  and  the 
exhaled  breath  has  a  nauseous  and  even  fetid  odor. 

Listlessness,  grunting,  grinding  of  teeth,  diminished  secretions,  weakness,  and  ema 
ciation,  increase  with  the  progress  of  the  malady.  When  the  animals  become  weak  they 
lie  more.  They  sometimes  show  symptoms  of  jaundice,  have  a  tendency  to  heave,  or  tym 
panitis  from  gases  accumulating  in  the  paunch,  and  their  gait  is  so  staggering  that  they 
appear  to  suffer  from  partial  paralysis  of  the  hind  quarters.  As  all  these  aggravated 
symptoms  develop  themselves  the  pulse  becomes  weak,  and  often  rises  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty  per  minute;  the  breathing  is  more  frequent  and  labored;  the  animal  gasps  for 
breath.  The  spasmodic  action  of  the  nostrils  is  very  marked,  the  grunt  very  audible,  and 
there  is  a  peculiar  puckering  of  the  angles  of  the  mouth.  The  temperature,  which  is  ele 
vated  during  the  acute  stage  of  the  disease,  is  irregularly  up  and  down,  according  to  the 
complications  of  the  disease,  and  there  is  great  tendency  to  coldness  of  the  horns  and 
extremities.  Abortion  is  not  an  uncommon  accident.  The  constipation,  which  is  a  very 
common  symptom  of  the  lung  disease,  is  apt  to  be  followed  by  diarrhea  in  the  later  stages, 
and  this  is  also  associated  with  a  considerable  discharge  of  clear-colored  urine. 

Auscultation  and  percussion  are  valuable  aids  in  the  diagnosis  of  lung  plague.     Most 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  19 

persons  can,  with  a  little  care,  distinguish  the  sick  from  healthy  cattle  by  listening  to  the 
sides  of  the  chest.  It  does  not  require  a  skillful  expert  to  recognize  that  the  ribs  are 
motionless  and  flattened  over  the  consolidated  lung,  that  there  is  an  absence  of  resonance 
on  striking  the  ribs  over  the  affected  region,  and  that  the  ear  distinguishes  a  very  distinct 
respiratory  murmur  wherever  the  lung  is  pervious,  and  an  absence  of  this  sound  where 
the  lung  is  transformed  into  a  solid  mass. 

At  an  early  stage  of  pleuropneumonia  there  is  a  harsh  sound,  roar,  or  rhonchus,  pro 
duced  by  the  passage  of  air  through  the  windpipe  and  its  subdivisions.  This  varies  in 
intensity  in  different  cases,  as  some  animals  have  more  exudation  on  the  mucous  surface 
of  the  air  passage  than  others,  and  the  leathery-looking  shreds  of  lymph  adhering  to  the 
inflamed  membrane  vibrate  as  the  air  rushes  past  them,  giving  rise  to  the  harsh  sound 
which  may  sometimes  be  heard  by  persons  standing  by  a  sick  animal.  In  many  cases 
one  lung  alone  is  affected,  and  then  the  respiratory  murmur  is  more  distinct  than  in  health 
wherever  the  lung  tissue  is  pervious,  whereas  there  is  a  total  absence  of  sound  over  the 
consolidated  organ.  Occasionally  an  air  passage  remains  open  through  a  mass  of  hard 
ened  lung,  and  the  air  rushing  through  this  rigid  bronchial  tube  makes  a  very  decided 
whistling  noise. 

In  the  earliest  stages  of  pleuropneumonia  the  deposit  of  lymph  on  the  serous  cover 
ing  of  the  ribs  and  lungs  produces  a  leathery-friction  sound,  and  as  liquid  accumulates  in 
one  or  both  cavities  of  the  chest  the  respiratory  murmur  is  lost  towards  the  lower  part  of 
the  affected  side  or  sides,  and  it  is  alone  distinct  over  the  upper  portions  of  pervious  lung 
tissue. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  chest  reveals,  day  by  day,  the  progress  of  the  disease. 
When  one  lung  is  affected  an  animal  is  much  more  likely  to  recover  than  when  both  are 
diseased.  Portions  of  the  diseased  lung  tissue  are  apt  to  die,  and,  becoming  detached  or 
softened,  produce  cavities  in  the  lungs,  which  are  indicated  by  a  cavernous  rale  or  sound 
somewhat  similar  to  that  produced  by  blowing  air  in  the  hollow  of  the  hands  when  closed 
against  each  other. 

By  careful  auscultation  the  cases  that  tend  to  convalescence  may  be  distinguished  by 
less  marked  roughness  in  the  inspirations,  and  a  gradual  though  slow  return  of  the  respira 
tory  murmur,  with  increased  mobility  of  the  ribs  and  easier  movement  of  the  flanks. 

TEEMINATION. 

Cases  of  lung  diseases  in  cattle  end  in  partial  or  complete  restoration  to  health,  or 
death  by  prostration,  suffocation,  purulent  fever,  or  hectic. 

As  a  rule,  when  a  herd  of  cattle  has  suffered  from  the  contagious  pleuropneumonia, 
the  surviving  animals,  whenever  slaughtered,  show  old  adhesions,  partial  collapse  of  the 
lung  tissue,  atrophy  or  wasting  of  the  lung,  thickness  of  the  heart's  covering  or  pericar 
dium,  and  sometimes  chronic  abscess.  Complete  recovery  without  leaving  the  slightest 
traces  of  pre-existing  lesion  occurs.  It  has  been  noticed  that  cattle  that  have  once  had 
pleuropneumonia  fatten  more  readily  than  others. 

Death  supervenes  during  the  acute  attacks  of  the  disease  from  shock,  prostration,  or 
gradual  suffocation.  When  animals  linger  on  for  some  time  in  the  bloodless  state  peculiar 
to  this  disease,  and  which  is  mainly  due  to  the  great  drain  on  the  system  by  the  immense 


20  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

discharge  which  occurs  in  the  substance  of  the  Tung  and  cavities  of  the  chest,  a  permanent 
impairment  of  the  functions  of  nutrition  or  assimilation  occurs,  and,  although  the  appetite 
may  be  partially  restored,  emaciation  advances,  and  the  animal  sinks.  A  terrible  diarrhoea 
or  dysentery  usually  accompanies  this  form  of  disease. 

In  other  cases  abscesses  form  in  and  around  the  lungs  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
body,  and  the  animals  die  of  purulent  infection.  Occasionally  a  cavity  formed  by  the 
breaking  up  of  diseased  lung  tissue  communicates  with  the  pleural  sack  or  cavity  of  the 
chest,  and  a  condition  known  to  pathologists  as  empyema  results,  to  the  certain  destruc 
tion  of  the  animal. 

DURATION    OF   THE    DISEASE. 

Affected  animals  usually  pass  through  an  incubative  stage  varying  from  twenty  to 
eighty  days,  and  usually  averaging  from  twenty-five  to  forty  days.  The  acute  stage  of  the 
disorder  varies  from  seven  to  twenty-one  days.  Convalescence  extends  over  a  period  of 
one,  two,  or  even  three  months,  during  the  greater  part  of  which  the  convalescent  animal 
is  often  capable  of  infecting  healthy  cattle. 

The  mortality  varies  from  one  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  affected  animals.  When  a 
first  case  is  isolated  early,  all  the  remaining  animals  may  continue  to  enjoy  health.  As  a 
rule,  in  mild  outbreaks,  the  mortality  attains  twenty-five  per  cent.,  and  in  severe  cases 
sixty,  seventy,  eighty,  or  even  one  hundred  per  cent. 

In  England  the  lung  disease  has  doubled  the  usual  cattle  mortality  of  the  country, 
and  during  many  years  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  cattle  that  have  died  of  disease  have  died 
of  the  contagious  lung  disease. 

LATENT    FORM. 

It  is  necessary  that  I  should  draw  special  attention  to  the  large  number  of  cases  which 
run  an  insidious  course  and  pass  unobserved.  These  are  the  most  dangerous,  as  less  care 
is  paid  to  their  isolation. 

APPEARANCES  AFTER  DEATH. 

Animals  that  are  slaughtered,  or  are  permitted  to  die  in  advanced  stages  of  the  lung 
plague,  present  the  following  characteristics  : 

The  internal  changes  are  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  chest.  On  opening  this,  by 
splitting  the  brisket,  as  the  animal  lies  on  its  back,  layers  of  yellowish,  friable,  false  mem 
brane,  of  varying  tenacity,  stretch  across  and  around  the  sack  (pericardium)  containing  the 
heart.  These  adhesions  exist  on  one  or  both  sides  of  the  chest,  but  are  sometimes  alto 
gether  absent.  They  are  found  bathed  in  a  yellowish,  grumous  fluid  or  serum,  highly 
charged  with  albumen  and  shreds  of  solid  deposit.  Portions  of  one  or  both  lungs  are  found 
more  or  less  firmly  adhering  to  the  membrane  (pleura)  covering  the  ribs  and  diaphragm, 
and  in  passing  the  hands,  especially  round  the  large  posterior  lobes  of  either  lung,  it  is 
difficult,  in  advanced  stages  of  the  disorder,  to  detach  the  diseased  portions  of  the  organ 
from  the  ribs. 

The  false  membranes,  disposed  in  layers  which  may  be  stripped  off  the  pulmonary 
surface,  are  found  adhering  more  or  less  closely  to  it,  and  the  membrane  (pleura)  covering 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  21 

the  lung,  which  is  usually  smooth  and  glistening,  is  rough,  of  mottled  color,  and  with  more 
or  less  marked  papillary  or  warty-looking  eminences.  These  are  the  vascular  offshoots  of  the 
membrane  feeding  the  deposit  around,  and  in  time  the  process  of  growth  and  formation  of  vas 
cular  or  blood-carrying  tissue  may  lead  to  as  solid  a  connection  between  the  lung  and  the 
sides  of  the  chest  as  between  healthy  tissues.  Such  complete  development  is  seen  only  in 
very  chronic  cases,  or  animals  that  have  recovered  from  the  disease. 

The  fluid  around  one  or  both  lungs  varies  in  amount  from  a  few  ounces  to  several 
gallons.  At  times  it  is  tolerably  clear  when  warm,  and  gelatinizes  on  cooling.  At  others 
it  is  difficult  to  separate  it  from  the  shreds  of  lymph  and  false  membranes  in  the  meshes  of 
which  it  is  held.  PUK  cells  frequently  abound  in  it,  and  it  assumes  in  a  few  cases  the 
character  of  pus.  It  is  especially  purulent  when  abscesses  have  formed  in  the  gangrenous 
lung  tissue,  and  an  opening  has  led  to  communication  between  the  lung  tissue  and  the 
pleural  sack.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  fetor  noticed  on  opening  thechest  is  intolerable- 

On  removing  the  lungs,  great  variations  in  extent,  but  uniformity  in  essential  appear 
ances,  of  disease  exist. 

In  recent  and  mild  cases,  one  lung  is  found  affected.  Its  surface  may  be  smooth  from 
the  absence  of  deposit  around  it.  Parts  of  the  organ  are  collapsed,  as  in  health,  and  the 
usual  normal  pink  color  is  noticed.  The  affected  part  is  swollen,  hard,  and  mottled.  On 
cutting  into  this,  the  older  diseased  portions  present  a  very  peculiar  marbled  or  tessellated 
character.  The  substance  of  the  lobules  is  solid  and  of  a  dark  red  color,  and  the  tissue  be 
tween  the  lobules  is  of  a  yellowish  red,  more  or  less  spotted  with  red  points,  but  sometimes 
of  almost  pure  yellowish  white  color. 

The  more  recent  deposits  are  distinguished  mainly  by  a  lighter  red  color  of  the  thick 
ened  lobules,  and  there  are  gradations  from  this  condition  to  that  in  which  the  lobules  are 
but  slightly  infiltrated  with  semi-liquid  serum,  and  air  still  passes  more  or  less  into  their 
air  vesicles. 

As  the  disease  advances,  the  extent  of  solidified  and  darkened  lung  increases,  and 
portions  of  the  lung  tissue  lose  more  or  less  the  marbled  appearance,  from  the  blood-stain 
ing  of  the  interstitial  deposit.  The  consolidation  of  structures  advances  so  that  the  blood 
vessels  are  obstructed,  the  diseased  lung  loses  all  means  of  nourishment,  and  the  older, 
darker,  and  more  solid  portions  become  detached,  so  that  they  remain  as  foreign  bodies 
imbedded  in  cavities  in  the  diseased  tissue,  The  admissions  of  air  through  the  air  passages 
into  these  cavities  by  dissolution  of  the  lung  tissue,  lead  to  the  cavernous  sounds  which 
the  ear  can  detect  in  the  living  animal,  and  the  broken-up  tissue  decomposes  and  induces 
great  fetor  of  the  breath. 

One  lung  may  have  several  points  diseased ;  each  lobe  may  be  affected  and  little  or 
no  communication  between  the  several  parts  implicated.  The  great  tenacity  of  a  yellow 
ish  white  deposit  around  a  marked  marbled  center  of  disease  has  been  said  to  indicate  a 
certain  tendency  to  limitation  by  the  formation  of  a  capsule,  and  several  encapsulated  cen 
ters  may  be  found. 

On  taking  a  warm  diseased  lung,  severing  the  still  healthy  portions,  making  incisions 
into  the  parts  solidified,  and  suspending  them  so  that  they  may  drain,  a  large  amount  of 
yellowish  serum  of  a  translucent  character,  almost  wholly  free  or  more  or  less  tinged  with 
blood,  is  obtained  to  the  extent  of  pounds  in  weight.  The  amount  varies  with  weight  of 
diseased  lung  drained.  The  quantity  of  this  and  of  the  solidified  deposit  in  a  diseased  lung 


22  DEPAKTMENT  OF  AGEICULTUKE. 

is  so  large,  that  from  a  normal  weight  of  four  or  five  pounds,  a  lung  attains  to  ten,  twenty, 
forty,  and  I  have  seen  one  as  high  as  fifty-four  pounds  in  weight. 

AIR    PASSAGES. 

The  condition  of  the  air  passages  varies  from  one  of  perfect  freedom  in  the  healthy 
portions  of  the  lung  to  a  state  in  which  the  mucous  surface  is  coated  with  false  membrane 
or  solid  exudations  of  lymph  in  the  diseased  parts.  By  suitable  means  it  is  not  difficult  to 
isolate  the  solid  white  lymph  clogging  the  terminal  bronchial  tubes  and  air  vesicles  in  the 
consolidated  tissues,  but  at  a  distance  from  these  parts  it  is  only  in  some  cases  that  a  kind  of 
croupy  complication  exists.  I  have  seen  an  animal  gasping  for  breath,  with  its  mouth 
open,  nostrils  widely  expanded,  eyes  prominent,  and  visible  mucous  membranes  of  a  bluish 
red  color  :  on  opening  the  air  passages  of  this  cow  after  death,  they  were  found  throughout 
their  whole  extent  nearly  filled  with  a  deposit  similar  to  that  usually  found  on  the  surface 
of  the  diseased  lung. 

There  is  little  necessity  for  prolonging  this  description  of  cadaveric  manifestations. 
The  heart's  sack  is  sometimes  thickened  by  deposits  around  it.  Not  unfrequently  it  con 
tains  an  excess  of  serum.  The  heart  itself  is  contracted  and  pale,  containing  a  little  dark 
blood.  The  organs  of  digestion  at  different  stages  manifest  a  state  of  dryness.  The  third 
stomach,  which  is  so  constantly  packed  with  dry  food  in  febrile  diseases,  is  in  the  same 
condition  in  pleuropneumonia.  I  have  known  the  mucous  layers  spotted  with  irregular 
or  circular  congestions  or  blood  extravasations,  and  the  membrane  softening  in  these  parts 
has  become  perforated.  In  advanced  cases  there  is  more  or  less  diffuse  redness,  and  even 
blood  extravasations  in  the  large  intestine,  with  fluid,  fetid,  and  sometimes  slightly  blood 
stained,  excrement,  such  as  is  discharged  during  life. 

The  anaemia — or  bloodless  condition  of  other  tissues — the  dark,  dry  look  of  the  meat 
dressed  by  the  butcher,  the  yellow  color  of  the  fat  in  some  cases,  and  the  small  quantity 
of  fat  left  in  animals  that  have  succumbed  under  a  chronic  attack,  are  all  general  signs  of 
greater  or  less  value  when  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  changes  occurring  in  the  chest. 

THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 

The  facts  which  have  been  adduced  in  the  foregoing  pages  would  seem  sufficient  to 
set  at  rest  discussions  as  to  the  causes  hitherto  alleged  as  giving  rise  to  the  spontaneous 
development  of  contagious  pleuropneumonia.  Nevertheless  we  have  seen  that  wherever 
the  malady  appears  for  the  first  time  the  relation  of  its  undoubted  cause  and  effect  is  usu 
ally  overlooked.  Many  circumstances  tend  to  obscure  the  observations  even  of  experts, 
and  it  is  more  particularly  in  large  cities,  where  the  disease  is  most  common  and  observers 
more  numerous,  that  conditions  mislead  and  have  misled.  With  a  view  therefore  to  impede 
the  renewal  of  false  theories  which  have  up  to  the  present  day  insured  the  steady  repro 
duction  and  propagation  of  this  bovine  pest,  it  may  be  well  to  enter  into  details  under 
three  heads : 

1st.  The  alleged  original  causes  of  the  lung  plague. 

2d.  Contagion  and  infection. 

3d.  Conditions  favoring  or  insuring  communication  of  the  disease  by  actual  contact 
or  approach. 


TIIE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  23 


THE    ALLEGED    ORIGINAL    CAUSES    OF   THE    LUNG    PLAGUE. 

Man  at  all  times  and  in  virtue  of  a  strong  instinct  theorizes  on  the  why  and  the  where 
fore  of  everything.  Valentini,  in  his  records  of  the  lung  disease,  overlooking  altogether 
many  points  which,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  present  day,  enable  us  to  interpret  correctly 
the  phenomena  he  observed,  ascribed  the  lung  plague  to  atmospheric  agencies  and  unsea 
sonable  weather.  Haller,  a  shrewd  observer  and  great  philosopher,  adopted  an  inductive 
system  of  research,  and,  arguing  from  his  own  sphere  of  observation,  declared,  in  words 
which  deserve  to  be  written  in  gold,  that  so  far  as  his  district  was  concerned  the  disease 
appeared  always  to  be  imported.  He  did  not  hide  the  truth  under  a  load  of  wild  and  fan 
ciful  theories  in  attempting  to  explain  more  than  he  saw  and  could  judge  of  personally. 

Since  the  establishment  of  veterinary  colleges  in  France  two  theories  have  been  and 
to  a  certain  extent  continue  to  be  advocated.  Chabert  regarded  the  bovine  pleuropneu- 
monia  so  common  in  the  dairies  of  Paris  as  contagious,  whereas  Huzard  held  the  contrary 
opinion.  The  field  of  discussion  widened,  and  it  came  to  be  very  widely  admitted  that 
acute  affections  of  the  chest  were  contagious,  and  the  chronic  forms  incapable  of  commu 
nication  from  the  sick  to  the  healthy.  Not  only  was  this  believed  of  pulmonary  complaints 
among  cattle,  it  was  also  accepted  with  reference  to  glanders  in  the  horse. 

Delafond,  though  an  able  advocate  of  the  contagions  character  of  pleuropneumonia 
in  1844,  had  previously  entertained  grave  doubts  on  the  question.  Even  in  his  classical 
work  on  the  disease,  while  advancing  a  large  mass  of  invaluable  information  demonstrating 
how  in  truth  the  malady  extends,  his  usual  desire  to  round  off  and  complete  his  works 
led  him  to  theorize  and  err  as  to  the  origin  of  what  he  calls  "spontaneous  pleuropneumo 
nia"  in  cattle.  This  expression  is  not  appJied  by  him  to  an  ordinary  attack  of  inflam 
mation  of  the  lungs,  which  no  one  ever  ascribes  to  contagion,  but  to  the  lung  plague. 
The  local  or  determining  causes  of  the  spontaneous  form  of  this  disease  he  summarizes  as 
follows  : 

A.  Heat  and  impure  atmosphere  of  stables  in  which  cattle  live  for  five  or  six  months 
of  the  year,  especially  when  this  heat  and  impurity  are  combined  with  a  very  nutritive 
aliment  that  produces  much  blood. 

B.  Abundant  milk  secretions,  required  from  cows  in  certain  localities,  either  for  the 
sale  of  milk  or  of  butter  and  cheese. 

C.  Chills  of  the  skin  and  respiration  by  cold,  humid,  misty  air  on  pastures,  either 
during  spring  or  autumn;  the  introduction  of  cold  air  in  the  lungs  in  winter  on  taking 
animals  from  the  stables  to  be  watered. 

D.  The  glacial  waters  which  cattle  are  compelled  to  drink  in  winter,  and  the  unhealthy 
waters  of  marshes  which  they  have  to  take  in  summer. 

E.  The  hard  work  to  which  work  cattle  are  subjected  in  summer  in  clearing  for 
ests,  &c. 

F.  Lastly,  hereditary  predisposition. 

All  this  classified  blundering  might  be  disposed  of  in  one  sentence,  by  asserting  the 
truth,  that  the  experience  of  ages  has  shown,  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  that  all  these 
causes,  singly  and  combined,  have  failed  to  induce  a  case  of  pleuropneumonia.  Whether 
we  examine  the  agricultural  annals  of  Scotland  or  Spain,  of  Canada  or  Texas,  of  South 
America  or  Australia,  it  will  be  found  that  alternations  of  temperature,  chills,  breathing 


24  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

the  pure  air  of  heaven  as  near  the  north  pole  as  cattle  have  reached,  drinking  the  frozen 
waters  of  North  America  or  the  stagnant  pools  in  the  swamps  of  the  Carolinas  and 
Louisiana  during  the  hottest  summers,  the  hard  toils  and  sufferings  of  many  a  Mexican 
yoke  of  oxen,  and,  lastly,  the  greatest  negligence  of  an  agricultural  people  in  relation  to 
the  improvements  of  breeds,  one  and  all  have  failed  ever  to  induce  a  single  case  of  lung 
plague.  Delafond  had  his  theories.  We  have  an  array  of  facts  on  our  side  as  great  and 
as  incontrovertible  as  any  ever  before  adduced  in  support  of  any  medical  or  other  question. 
But  brevity  is  not  always  desirable  when  the  object  to  be  attained  is  the  diffusion  of 
an  abundant  and  accurate  knowledge,  and  interesting  points  may  be  beneficially  discussed 
under  the  separate  heads  arranged  by  Delafond. 

SPECIAL   CAUSES    FAVORING   THE    DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE    DISEASE    IN    MOUNTAINS. 

Delafond  asserts  that  in  Switzerland,  Piedmont,  the  Juras,  the  Dauphind,  the  Vosges, 
and  the  Pyrenees,  pleuropneumonia  has  existed  permanently.  He  does  not  ascribe  this  to 
geological  formation,  but  he  believes  firmly,  with  almost  all  the  veterinarians  in  moun 
tainous  districts,  that  the  disposition,  topographic  situation  of  mountains  and  valleys,  the 
cold  temperature  during  six  months  of  the  year;  hoar  frost,  heavy  fogs,  coldness  and 
moisture  of  the  nights  and  mornings  on  woodland  pastures,  or  near  lakes  and  rivers; 
frequent  atmospheric  currents  in  spring  and  autumn;  sudden  changes  from  hot  to  cold, 
dry  to  wet,  or  vice  versa,  &c.,  etc.,  are  the  local  determining  causes  which  combine,  with 
other  causes  that  have  yet  to  be  noticed,  in  inducing  the  lung  plague.  Delafond's  words 
are  that  the  causes  enumerated  concur  "d  donncr  naissance  d  la  pfripncumonie  dans  la 
haute  et  Jans  la  basse  monlagnc." 

Delafond  erred,  He  had  not  read  llaller;  and  had  he  visited  any  part  where  it  was 
said  the  lung  plague  was  a  permanent  infliction,  he  would  have  found,  with  Haller,  that 
it  was  always  arriving  from  somewhere,  but  never  originating  spontaneously.  If  we 
examine  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  disease  we  shall  find  the  mountains  of 
Northern  Europe,  of  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark,  free  from  the  disease.  And  yet  the 
special  causes  he  refers  lo  predominate  there.  No  part  of  Europe  has  been  more  constantly 
devastated  than  Holland,  noted  for  its  submerged  condition  and  the  vast  drainage  works 
which  render  it  inhabitable.  In  the  British  Isles  the  hills  have  always  been  most  free 
from  pleuropneumonia.  It  has  prevailed  at  all  altitudes,  but  the  Scottish  and  Irish 
mountains,  distant  from  high  roads  and  the  busy  traffic  in  cattle,  have  been  the  healthiest 
parts  of  the  country.  And  in  America,  too,  the  disease  has  traveled  from  the  east  south 
ward  along  the  coast,  attacking  cities  and  farms  most  in  communication  with  those  cities. 
It  has  not  penetrated  to  the  fine  dairy  farms  on  the  hills  in  New  York  State,  and  is  not 
indigenous  on  the  Alleghanies.  It  were  a  much  easier  task  to  trace  the  malady  to  fertile 
valleys,  where  cattle  are  often  covered,  as  in  Holland,  to  be  protected  from  cold,  and  to 
towns  where  animals  are  always  in  stables,  than  to  trace  the  spontaneous  origin  of  the 
disease  to  the  mountains  of  Central  and  Western  Europe. 

FEEDING. 

There  are  many  farmers,  apt  to  reason  on  insufficient  data,  who  notice  coincidences 
between  the  development  of  the  lung  disease  and  the  great  increase  in  some  countries  in 
the  number  of  distilleries,  and  the  amount  of  grains  and  distillery  waste  fed  to  cattle. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  25 

Others  declare  that  the  disease  commenced  with  the  potato  disease,  and  may  be  produced 
by  feeding  cattle  on  diseased  potatoes.  The  introduction  of  turnip  husbandly,  which 
undoubtedly  first  made  us  acquainted  with  a  form  of  red  water  in  cows,  and  severe  apo 
plectic  affections  in  sheep,  has  also  been  regarded  as  the  cause  in  Great  Britain  of  the 
lung  disease  in  cattle.  Delafond  agrees  that  the  foods  named  do  not  cause  pleuropneu- 
monia,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  fill  a  large  volume  with  facts  in  support  of  this  assertion ; 
and  yet  he  goes  on  to  say  that  food  that  is  too  succulent,  distributed  in  large  quantity 
among  cattle  that  are  being  stall-fed,  either  for  the  butcher  or  for  the  production  of  milk, 
may  induce  (pent  occasioner]  pleuropneumonia. 

We  are  not  ignorant  of  the  precise  results  which  ensue  when  an  excessive  quantity, 
inordinate  richness,  or  diseased  condition  of  the  alimentary  matters  named  may  operate  in 
inducing  ill-effects.  Diseased  potatoes  induce  indigestion  and  colic.  Turnips  grown  on 
ill-drained  lands  give  rise  to  hffimaturia,  the  red  water  of  cows  after  parturition.  Distil 
lery  products  occasion  diuresis,  disturbed  digestion,  and,  when  still  charged  with  alcoholic 
principles,  give  rise  to  cerebral  disturbance,  apoplexy,  and  death.  These,  and  not  pleuro 
pneumonia,  are  known  to  us  as  capable  of  development  from  the  abuse  of  otherwise  useful 
articles  of  cattle-feeding. 

STABLING — STALL-FEEDING. 

Many  have  been  the  high-colored  descriptions  of  the  wretched  stables,  sheds,  or  what 
the  Scotch  people  term  "byres/'  in  which  cattle  are  housed.  It  matters  not  that  for  gen 
erations  cattle  were  similarly  housed  without  suffering  from  pleuropneumonia.  There  are 
always  those  ready  to  skim  the  surface  for  reasons,  and,  after  noticing  the  closeness,  filth, 
and  torturing  narrowness  of  cattle  stalls,  ascribe  to  that  any  and  every  plague  infecting 
the  cow  shed.  It  is  needless  to  walk  the  observer  through  the  fetid  holes  in  which  cattle 
are  kept  for  the  supply  of  milk  in  Copenhagen,  where  pleuropneumonia  has  not  been 
observed,  nor  to  refer  to  the  days  when  the  London  dairymen,  richer  in  money  and  cows, 
kept  the  latter  worse,  bred  from  them  regularly,  and  could  maintain  country  farms  on  which 
to  graze  them  while  calving.  It  stands  to  reason,  according  to  some,  that  such  conditions 
must  induce  pleuropneumonia.  In  America,  sensation  articles  and  skillful  illustrations 
have  not  been  wanting,  and  no  one  can  hesitate  in  declaring  that  the  cow  sheds  of  Brook 
lyn  and  other  cities  are  a  disgrace  to  a  civilized  people. 

Huzard  first  described  the  cow  houses  of  Paris  as  they  were  in  1793.  It  is  needless 
to  follow  him  through  a  long  description  of  low  sheds,  in  which  a  man  could  not  stand 
erect,  where  cows  were  crippled  into  permanent  rest,  with  their  horns  overgrown  and  dis 
torted  for  want  of  regular  wear  and  tear,  and  in  which  fowls,  pigs,  and  rabbits  shared  shelter 
and  a  pestilential  atmosphere.  Delafond  has  described  the  wretched  stabling  of  hill  farmers. 
How,  then,  can  it  be  said  that  in  these  sheds,  where  the  lung  plague  always  prevails,  the 
conditions  do  not  exist  for  its  spontaneous  origin? 

It  cannot  be  disputed  that  there  are  conditions — as  when  an  animal  suffers  from  pleuro 
pneumonia,  and  has  but  one  lung  to  breathe  with — under  which  a  large  volume  of  pure 
air  may  turn  the  scale  from  death  to  life.  It  is  also  undoubted  that  the  concentration  of 
the  poison  so  freely  given  off  in  this  contagious  disease  must  materially  favor  its  repro 
duction  in  the  systems  of  susceptible  animals.  But  no  one  who  has  witnessed  the  slow 
4 


26  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

progress  of  the  malady  in  town  dairies,  and  the  rapid  destruction  of  herds  in  open  fields, 
can  for  a  moment  believe  in  the  usual  aggravation  of  the  malady  by  bad  stabling.  Where 
the  malady  has  been  induced  among  young  stock  by  large  dairymen  to  prevent  subsequent 
inconveniences,  when  the  animals  are  fit  to  breed  and  yield  milk,  it  has  been  found  that 
most  survived  when  kept  warm  in  close  sheds.  Recommendations  as  to  ventilating  sta 
bles  after  disease  had  commenced  have  at  times  resulted  in  a  much  more  rapid  destruc 
tion  of  the  cattle,  and  we  are  bound  to  admit  that  a  priori  reasoning  has  often  been  at 
fault  on  this  subject. 

ABUNDANT   MILK   SECRETION. 

The  universal  prevalence  of  the  lung  plague  in  town  dairies,  where  cows  are  kept  for 
an  abundant  production  of  milk,  has  led  to  the  theory  that  the  drain  on  the  system  thus 
kept  up  induces  the  pleuropneumonia.  It  is  asserted,  and  there  appears  to  be  some  ground 
for  the  belief,  that  the  human  female,  as  well  as  the  female  among  lower  animals,  is  more 
susceptible  to  the  influences  of  contagion  than  the  male,  but  so  far  no  facts  of  importance 
have  ever  been  published  indicating  that  an  abundant  secretion  of  milk  induces  specific 
disease  and  malignant  fevers.  Delafond  has  referred  to  abundant  production  in  dairies 
where  pleuropneumonia  was  always  troublesome,  and  expresses  himself  as  follows:  "I 
firmly  believe  that  cows  which  calve  every  ten  or  eleven  months,  and  which  are  constantly 
yielding  an  abundant  milk  secretion,  whether  by  being  fed  abundantly  on  rich  provender, 
or  placing  them  in  hot,  damp  stables,  so  as  to  check  cutaneous  and  pulmonary  secretion, 
soon  have  their  chest  enfeebled,  and  are  seized  with  pleuropneumonia;  or,  at  all  events, 
and  that  is  incontestable,  they  become  predisposed  to  the  disease,  which  they  easily  get  on 
being  exposed  to  the  breathing  of  a  cold  air,  or  to  cold  on  the  surface  of  the  skin." 

Here,  again,  it  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  real  effects  of  an  abundant  milk  secretion 
in  stables  that  are  close  and  ill-drained.  Up  to  the  time  when  the  lung  disease  first 
appeared  in  London  it  was  not  uncommon  for  cows  to  be  milked  for  several  consecutive 
years.  Large  milkers  were  always  kept  on,  and  had  a  calf  annually  until  too  old  or  killed 
by  disease.  The  disease  that  killed  them  was  not  pleuropneumonia,  but  tuberculosis.  That 
malady,  once  so  prevalent,  is  almost  unknown  now,  inasmuch  as  the  London  cow  feeders 
have  ceased  to  breed  from  their  cows,  and  the  average  duration  of  a  cow's  lifetime  in  a 
London  shed  docs  not  exceed  six  months. 

DRINKING  COLD   OR   IMPURE  WATP:R. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  refer  at  length  to  this  reputed  cause  of  pleuroneumonia.  Not 
only  is  there  an  absence  of  fact  in  support  of  .the  production  of  the  malady  by  cold  water 
in  winter  and  stagnant  water  in  summer,  but  it  is  well  known  that  the  malady  is  usually 
most  rife  in  many  cities  during  the  summer,  when  cattle  are  allowed  to  roam  at  pleasure 
during  the  day,  coming  in  contact,  and,  therefore,  infecting  each  other,  while  the  supply 
of  water  is  good,  and  indeed  unexceptionable.  Were  it  worth  while,  I  could  easily 
furnish  many  facts  under  this  head  indicating  that  there  is  no  relation  whatever  be 
tween  the  condition  and  quantity  of  water  cattle  drink  and  the  development  of  the  lung 
disease. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  27 


CHILLS — BREATHING   A    COLD   AIR. 

East  winds  in  Scotland  were  blamed  by  Professor  Dick  as  the  active  agency  inducing 
bovine  pleuropneumonia.  He  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  east  winds  prevailed  before 
1843,  when  the  lung  plague  had  not  yet  penetrated  Scotland.  I  have  seen  on  the  coast  of 
Fife  a  herd  of  cattle  of  all  ages  seized  with  bronchitis — a  curable,  benignant,  and  acute 
inflammation,  presenting  none  of  the  characteristics  of  the  lung  plague ;  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  deficient  shelter,  intense  cold,  and  rapid  changes  of  the  weather  may  induce 
sporadic  and  non-contagious  inflammations  of  the  respiratory  organs.  But  this  is  not  pleuro 
pneumonia. 

It  is  not  at  all  uncommon  in  Great  Britain,  Holland,  and  elsewhere,  for  farmers  to 
ascribe  the  disease  to  chills ;  and  its  prevalence  among  drift  cattle  has  been  referred  to 
transportation  for  long  distances  in  open  railway  cars,  on  steamboats,  and  exposure  in 
markets.  But  who  ever  heard  of  western  cattle  being  struck  with  the  lung  plague  in 
passing  from  Illinois  to  New  York?  Spanish  cattle,  reared  in  a  country  free  from  pleuro 
pneumonia,  suffer  all  the  hardships  of  rough  weather  at  sea,  but  are  landed  invariably 
sound  in  their  lungs  in  Liverpool  or  London.  Danish  cattle  cross  the  German  Ocean  and 
suffer  much  ill-treatment,  but  their  dissection  reveals  at  no  time  the  lesions  of  the  lung 
plague. 

Not  so  with  Dutch  or  Irish  cattle.  They  make  a  short  sea  voyage  from  an  infected 
country,  and  propagate  pleuropneumonia  wherever  they  come  in  contact  with  susceptible 
cattle. 

Innumerable  observations  undoubtedly  show  that  the  lung  plague  prevails  as  much, 
and  often  more,  during  hot  weather  than  in  the  winter  months;  it  spares  many  cold 
countries  into  which  it  has  no  opportunity  of  transportation,  and  visits  the  most  genial 
climate  whither  sick  cattle  have  been  taken.  Italy  and  Australia  furnish  as  good  fields 
for  its  development  as  the  Swiss  Alps,  and  the  colder  portions  of  the  United  States. 

OVERWOEK. 

In  France  and  Italy  it  has  been  asserted  that  keeping  oxen  long  in  the  yoke,  exhaust 
ing  them,  starving,  and  often  drenching  them  with  rain,  induce  the  lung  disease.  I  know 
not  what  diseases  such  practices  have  not  been  said  to  cause.  If  we  survey  the  countries 
where  pleuropneumonia  has  been  longest  known,  and  where  its  ravages  have  been  most 
intense,  we  shall  find  that,  as  a  rule,  it  prevails  among  milk  cattle  that  never  work,  steers 
that  are  grazed  or  stall-fed,  and  never  broken  to  the  plow  or  wagon,  and  herds  of  breeding 
stock,  as  in  the  Australian  runs,  never  accustomed  to  restraint  or  punishment. 

HEREDITARY    PREDISPOSITION — CONGENITAL    PLEUROPNEUMONIA. 

It  is  necessary  to  establish  clearly  the  difference  between  hereditary  taint  and  con 
genital  disease.  A  malady  is  termed  hereditary  when  it  is  transmitted  from  parent  to 
offspring  by  virtue  of  a  constitutional  defect,  deformity,  or  taint.  It  may,  but  usually 
does  not,  appear  at  birth.  The  best  example  is  furnished  by  cancer,  which  occurs  fre 
quently  in  the  human  subject,  and  recurs  for  generations.  None  of  the  specific  or  conta 
gious  fevers  are  hereditary,  and  although  the  question  has  been  discussed  in  relation  to 


28  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

pleuropneumonia,  it  can  easily  be  settled.  Delafond  thought  that  the  deterioration  of 
breeds  might  favor  its  development.  And  why,  then,  has  not  the  disease  appeared  in 
South  America,  while  it  has  decimated  the  matchless  herds  of  England  and  Australia  ? 
It  may  be  accepted  as  a  settled  truth  that  the  lung  disease,  like  the  rinderpest  and  foot 
and  mouth  disease,  spreads  without  reference  to  any  peculiar  breed.  Improved  and -unim 
proved  breeds  are  alike  susceptible  of  the  affection. 

Calves  are  at  times,  however,  born  of  sick  cows,  and  present  unmistakable  signs  of 
the  lung  plague.  The  first  observation  of  this  sort  was  made  by  Hilfelhelseim,  in  the 
Rhine  provinces,  who  dissected  the  foetuses  of  cows  that  aborted  under  the  disease.  He 
found  the  lesions  of  pleuropneumonia  in  these  animals.  Delafond  made  similar  observa 
tions,  but  has  created  some  confusion  by  including  cases  of  tuberculosis  with  others  of 
pleuropneumonia.  In  1S39,  a  cow  that  had  gone  six  months  in  calf  was  killed  in  Frei 
burg,  Switzerland,  while  suffering  from  pleuropneumonia.  The  foetus  presented  signs  of 
the  malady.  It  is  common  for  calves  to  take  the  disease  soon  after  birth,  and  I  have 
shown  in  a  government  report  that  the  contagious  cattle  diseases  of  Ireland,  including 
pleuropneumonia,  were  mainly  due  to  the  active  trade  in  sucking  calves  between  the  large 
towns  of  England  and  Dublin. 

It  has  been  necessary  frequently  to  refer  to  animals  that  are  susceptible  and  insus 
ceptible  to  attacks  of  pleuropneumonia.  Tins  has  been  ascribed  by  some  to  constitutional 
or  inbred  resistance  or  weakness.  It  is  due  to  what  pathologists  term,  for  want  of  a  bet 
ter  name  or  explanation,  idiosyncrasy.  At  times  it  appears  that  young  animals  resist  the 
disease  better  than  old  ones  ;  and  Mr.  Harvey,  of  Glasgow,  found  that  by  communicating 
the  disease  to  yearlings  and  two-year  olds  he  had  fewer  deaths  than  when  he  had  it  among 
his  pregnant  and  milch  cows.  But,  as  Sauberg  has  observed,  outbreaks  occur  in  which 
the  older  animals  seem  to  bear  up  better  than  the  young  ones,  and  it  is  difficult,  on  pres 
ent  data,  to  establish  any  rule  on  the  point. 

It  may  be  accepted  as  proved  that  all  cattle,  whatever  their  age,  breed,  sex,  condi 
tion,  &c.,  are  susceptible  to  pleuropneumonia  until  they  have  been  once  seized,  and  then 
it  is  rare  to  witness  a  second  attack.  An  insusceptible  animal  is,  therefore,  an  animal  that 
has  once  had  the  disease,  either  in  a  mild  or  latent,  or  severe  and  apparent  form. 

It  is,  however,  certain  that  a  degree  of  insusceptibility  may  be  traced  in  animals  that 
have  never  been  affected,  and  we  are  quite  at  a  loss  to  account  for  this.  Similar  observa 
tions  are  made  in  relation  to  all  fevers  affecting  men  and  animals.  A  person  has  been 
known  to  nurse  many  during  an  outbreak  of  yellow  fever,  escape  and  live  for  a  year,  when 
the  disease  has  reappeared,  and  the  individual  who  has  been  proof  against  the  malady  one 
year  has  been  among  the  first  to  die  from  it  the  next. 

Not  a  few  cases  have  been  recorded  of  rinderpest — and  I  have  witnessed  a  remark 
able  one — of  a  cow  standing  for  weeks  by  animals  that  died  of  the  malady,  and  which 
never  showed  signs  of  it.  More  strange  than  this  are  two  observations,  one  in  Lyons  in 
1853,  and  the  other  in  Vienna  in  1865,  of  dogs  which  could  not  be  rendered  rabid  by  the 
bites  of,  and  inoculations  from,  undoubtedly  rabid  dogs.  For  the  time,  at  all  events,  we 
must  rest  satisfied  with  the  pathologist's  explanation  that  these  animals  had  a  peculiar  con 
stitutional  immunity  or  idiosyncrasy. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  29 


CONTAGION    AND    INFECTION. 

Not  only  have  theories  in  relation  to  the  cause  or  combinations  of  causes  which  may 
lead  to  the  development  of  pleuropneumonia  been  unsatisfactory,  but  opportunities  are  con 
stantly  presenting  themselves  to  test  the  fact  that  privations,  overcrowding,  impure  food 
and  water,  &c.,  singly  or  combined,  may  kill,  but  never  induce  the  disease  which  presents 
the  characteristics  of  the  one  referred  to  in  this  report. 

The  malady  may  be  induced  at  will,  by  placing  an  animal  suffering  from  it  among 
healthy  ones,  and  by  direct  inoculation.  These  are  the  only  methods  by  wrhich  it  is 
propagated. 

Careful  experiments  have  been  instituted  on  this  subject,  and  although  it  might  be 
easy  to  refer  to  very  numerous  observations,  it  may  suffice  at  present  to  quote  from  a 
French  report,  edited  by  Professor  Bouley,  and  which  was  prepared  by  a  committee  of 
distinguished  agriculturists,  medical  and  veterinary  professors,  at  the  request  of  the 
minister  of  agriculture. 

FIRST   SERIES    OF    EXPERIMENTS. 

The  first  series  of  experiments  was  conducted  at  Pomerage,  in  the  well-known  and 
vast  domain  of  Rambouillet.  The  whole  is  inclosed  by  walls,  surrounded  by  woods,  and 
perfectly  isolated.  A  stable  was  separated  into  two  distinct  compartments.  In  the  first, 
designated  A,  with  a  southwest  exposure,  was  a  single  door  leading  out  on  a  sufficiently 
wide  plot  of  ground,  bounded  by  water  where  the  cattle  could  be  taken  to  drink.  Every 
precaution  was  taken  to  prevent  the  cattle  in  A  from  coming  within  reach  of  those  in  the 
second  stable,  B.  The  latter  was  situated  to  the  left  of  A,  and  completely  separated  by 
a  solid  wall. 

Pleuropneumonia  had  never  existed  in  the  commune  of  Rambouillet.  Messrs. 
Renault,  Delafond,  and  Jouet  chose  the  cattle  and  subjected  them  to  a  close  examination. 
The  herd  consisted  of  three  bulls  and  seventeen  cows.  These  animals  were  distinguished 
by  names  and  numbers,  and  distributed  in  the  two  stables  in  relation  to  age,  breed,  and 
sex,  so  as  to  secure  an  equable  distribution. 

Three  sick  cows  were  sent  to  Rambouillet  on  the  14th  of  November,  1851 — one  from 
the  D6partement  du  Nord,  the  second  from  Mont  Souris,  and  the  third  from  Vaugirard. 
Three  more  sick  cows  were  sent  on  the  2d  of  December,  1851.  Of  these  six  sick  animals, 
three  died  and  three  recovered.  One  lived  three  days  in  stable  A,  a  second  five  days  and 
a  night  in  the  same,  and  the  third,  in  stable  B,  survived  ten  days  and  two  nights. 

Of  the  three  sick  cows  that  recovered,  one,  admitted  into  stable  A  on  the  10th  of 
November,  presented  symptoms  of  the  malady  up  to  the  20th  of  December,  viz :  for  thirty- 
four  days.  The  second  entered  stable  B  on  the  2d  of  December,  and  was  sick  for  nine 
teen  days.  The  third,  also  admitted  in  the  same  stable,  continued  ill  for  twenty-eight  days. 

/Stable  A. — On  the  21st  of  November,  1851,  viz:  only  six  days  after  the  introduction 
into  this  stable  of  two  sick  cows,  a  peculiar  cough  was  shown  by  two  cows,  (La  Noire, 
No.  16,  and  Norma,  No.  2.)  Their  lungs  appeared  sound,  and  they  continued  to  eat  and 
ruminate. 

The  same  symptom  manifested  itself  successively,  as  follows : 

First,  on  Coquette,  (No.  3,)  on  the  22d  of  November. 


30  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGBICULTUltE.  ' 

Second,  on  Rosine,  (No.  9,)  on  the  23d  of  November. 

Third,  on  Berthe,  (No.  8,)  on  the  25th  of  November. 

Fourth,  on  Babet,  (No.  7,)  on  the  3d  of  December. 

Fifth,  on  Clara,  (No.  1.)  on  the  5th  of  December. 

Sixth,  on  Olga,  (No.  6,)  on  the  7th  of  December. 

Seventh,  on  Martin,  (No.  15,)  on  the  10th  of  December. 

Thus,  twenty-four  days  after  the  admission  of  two  sick  cows,  and  eight  days  after 
the  introduction  of  a  third  sick  animal,  out  of  ten  healthy  animals  nine  presented  the 
abnormal  indication  of  a  peculiar  cough.  Only  one  cow  (La  Caille,  No.  11)  continued  in 
perfect  health. 

After  this  first  sign  of  sickness,  the  characteristic  symptoms  of  pleuropneumonia 
appeared  in  six  cows,  in  the  following  order: 

First,  Olga,  (No.  6,)  thirty-one  days  after  first  contact. 

Second,  La  Noire,  (No.  16,)  thirty-two  days  after  first  contact. 

Third,  Clara,  (No.  1,)  thirty-five  days  after  first  contact. 

Fourth,  Rosine,  (No.  9,)  thirty-five  days  after  first  contact. 

Fifth,  Norrna,  (No.  2,)  thirty-seven  days  after  first  contact. 

Sixth,  Coquette,  (No.  3,)  fifty-seven  days  after  first  contact. 

Of  these  six  animals  only  one  died,  viz:  Olga,  (No.  6,)  and  her  carcass  was  removed 
to  Alfort  on  the  6th  of  January,  and  there  dissected  by  the  members  of  the  commission. 

Of  the  five  other  cows  in  the  stable,  the  reporters  say  that  symptoms  of  variable 
intensity  and  duration  appeared,  and  they  all  recovered.  Certain  lesions  were,  however, 
recognized  some  time  after  by  dissection. 

Of  the  three  animals  (Berthe,  No.  8,  Babet,  No.  7,  and  Martin,  No.  15)  which  began 
to  cough  the  first  day  after  contact  with  the  sick  cows,  the  only  symptom  which  lasted, 
and  is  said  to  have  continued  for  several  months,  was  the  cough. 

/Stable  B. — On  the  25th  of  November,  1851,  viz:  nine  days  after  the  introduction  in 
stable  B  of  the  two  sick  cows,  (Nos.  23  and  24,)  the  healthy  cows  began  to  cough,  in  the 
following  order: 

First,  Suzon,  (No.  13,)  on  the  26th  of  November. 

Second,  La  Garde,  (No.  20,)  on  the  2d  of  December. 

Third,  Marton,  (No.  5,)  on  the  3d  of  December. 

Fourth,  Kettley,  (No.  17,)  on  the  7th  of  December. 

Fifth,  Leduc,  (No.  18,)  on  the  10th  of  December. 

Sixth,  Nebula,  (No.  4,)  on  the  18th  of  December. 

Seventh,  LTomard,  (No.  14,)  on  the  28th  of  December. 

So  that,  thirty-two  days  after  the  introduction  of  sick  cows  in  stable  B,  out  of  ten 
healthy  animals  seven  presented  the  peculiar  cough  before  mentioned. 

Three  animals  (Junon,  No.  19,  Bringc',  No.  10,  and  Biche,  No.  12)  continued  in  per 
fect  health. 

Well-marked  symptoms  of  pleuropneumonia  presented  themselves  on  four  cows,  in 
the  following  order  : 

First,  La  Garde,  (No.  20,)  sixteen  days  after  first  contact. 

Second,  Leduc,  (No.  18,)  thirty  days  after  first  contact. 

Third,  Marton,  (No.  5,)  thirty -five  days  after  first  contact. 

Fourth,  Homard,  (No.  14,)  forty  days  after  first  contact. 


THE  LUXG  PLAGUE.  31 

Two  of  these  animals  died  after  nine  days'  illness.  The  other  two  were  quite  conva 
lescent  in  twenty-eight  and  thirty-five  days  respectively.  The  three  other  animals  con 
tinued  to  cough  for  some  months  without  manifesting  more  serious  symptoms. 

The  conclusions  drawn  by  the  French  commissioners  from  the  foregoing  experiments 
were  as  follows  : 

The  epizootic  pleuropneumonia  of  cattle  is  susceptible  of  transmission  from  sick  to 
healthy  animals  by  cohabitation. 

Twenty  per  cent,  of  the  animals  manifest  a  resistance  to  the  contagion. 

Eighty  per  cent,  manifest  various  effects  of  the  contagious  influence. 

Fifty  per  cent,  are  seized  with  decided  symptoms  of  pleuropneumonia,  and  of  these 
fifteen  per  cent,  succumb,  and  thirty-five  per  cent,  recover. 

Immediate  contact  is  not  necessary  for  the  transmission  of  the  disease,  and  the  first 
affected  were  among  the  farthest  removed  from  the  sick. 

A  better  idea  of  the  results  of  the  very  important  experiments  thus  related  may  be 
formed  by  the  subjoined  tables,  which  show  at  a  glance  the  conditions  under  which  the 
disease  was  propagated.  I  have  enlarged  the  French  tables,  and  included  all  the  data  of 
importance. 

SECOND    SERIES   OF    EXPERIMENTS. 

The  second  series  of  experiments  was  instituted  with  a  view  to  learn  whether  tho 
animals  that  had  been  once  affected  enjoyed  an  immunity  against  further  attacks,  and 
whether  those  that  had  resisted  the  disease  were  susceptible  of  subsequent  infection. 

On  the  5 th  of  March,  1852,  there  were  placed  in  the  stable  on  the  farm  of  Charen- 
tonneau — 

First.  Five  cows  from  Pomerage,  viz  :  Bring<5,  (No.  10,)  from  stable  B,  which  had 
resisted  the  disease ;  Kettley,  (No.  17,)  ditto  ;  Clara,  (No.  1,)  from  stable  A,  which  first 
showed  signs  of  pleuropneumonia  on  the  21st  of  December,  1851  ;  Norma,  (No.  2,)  from 
the  same  stable,  affected  the  23d  of  December ;  La  Coquette,  ditto,  date  of  attack  21st  of 
January,  1852. 

Second.  With  these  five  cows  were  placed  two  perfectly  healthy  animals,  (Marion, 
No.  7,  and  Zula,  No.  8.) 

Third.  Lastly,  six  cows,  (Rose  de  Mai,  No.  1,  Mille  Fleurs,  No.  4,  Jacqueline,  No.  3, 
Blanchette,  No.  8,  Rosette,  No.  3,  and  Bucheronne,  No.  5,)  inoculated  with  blood,  nasal 
discharge,  and  fecal  fluids,  were  also  submitted  to  the  influence  of  cohabitation. 

On  the  21st  of  January,  1852,  two  sick  cows  were  placed  in  this  stable.  One  of  these 
cows  was  left  eighteen  days  in  the  stable,  and  then  killed  to  serve  for  the  purpose  of  inoc 
ulation  experiments.  On  the  27th  of  June  another  sick  cow  was  placed  in  the  same  stable. 

The  result  was  that  the  five  animals  from  Pomerage  resisted  the  disease  as  well  as 
one  of  the  healthy  ones.  The  second  healthy  cow  was  seized  with  the  malady  thirty-five 
days  after  cohabitation. 

In  order  to  confirm  these  results,  the  commissioners  caused  to  be  placed  in  stable  A 
all  that  remained  of  the  first  herd.  On  the  Gth  of  July,  1852,  five  cows  were  sent  from 
Paris  to  Pomerage.  Not  one  of  the  animals  that  had  served  in  previous  experiments 
contracted  the  disease. 

The  history  of  pleuropnenmonia,  coupled  with  the  observations  made  on  the  supposed 


32  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

casual  agencies  capable  of  inducing  the  disease,  is  almost  sufficient  to  establish  the  purely 
contagious  nature  of  the  disease,  but  there  are  several  important  proofs  that  deserve 


o 

mention. 


It  is  seen  in  all  countries  where  the  lung  plague  appears,  that  it  spreads  in  proportion 
to  the  opportunities  of  contagion.  It  is  worst  in -large  cities,  where  cow  feeders  have  to 
make  frequent  purchases.  It  is  apt  to  diminish  in  severity — as,  per  example,  in  the  city 
of  Washington,  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  and  elsewhere — so  long  as  the  cows  are  confined  to 
stables  in  the  winter  and  different  herds  have  no  chance  of  approach.  When  spring  and 
fine  weather  arrive,  and  the  cows  are  turned  out  during  part  of  the  day,  or  altogether,  on 
commons,  parks,  or  pastures,  the  presence  of  any  infection  results  in  the  rapid  dissemina 
tion  of  the  disease.  I  had  special  occasion  to  study  this  among  the  cows  turned  out  into 
the  Phoenix  Park,  Dublin,  and  on  the  commons  near  Newcastle,  in  England. 

In  1862  I  chose  a  large  estate  in  Perthshire,  presenting  the  feature  of  being  cut  up 
into  farms,  on  some  of  which  cattle  were  wholly  bred;  whereas  on  others  purchases  had 
occasionally  been  made.  The  result  was  the  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  the  disease 
appeared  only  where  it  was  carried  by  diseased  cattle.  The  estate  was  that  of  Lord 
Willoughby  d'Eresby,  comprising  twenty-six  farms,  on  eleven  of  which  the  disease  was 
at  different  times  imported;  whereas  on  the  fifteen  other  farms,  interspersed  between 
eleven,  the  only  report  to  be  obtained  was,  "Never  had  the  disease.  Breeds  his  own 
stock." 

A  similar  inquiry  relating  to  the  parish  of  St.  Martin,  in  Perthshire,  showed  that 
pleuropneumonia  had  appeared  there  in  1845.  Since  then  ten  farms  have  been  visited  by 
the  disease,  and  in  every  case  the  attack  has  been  distinctly  traced  to  contact  with  diseased 
cattle.  Nineteen  farms  on  which  cattle  are  bred  and  purchases  rarely  made  have  enjoyed 
a  perfect  immunity. 

The  high-prized  herds  of  England,  which  have  been  carefully  isolated  by  their  pro 
prietors,  have  always  remained  free  from  the  disease,  and  short-horn  breeders  have,  in  many 
instances,  exercised  the  greatest  care  not  to  have  any  admixture  with  strange  animals, 
which  would  certainly  have  destroyed  their  stock. 

It  is  needless  to  enter  at  length  into  the  subject  of  authorities  on  this  point.  The 
voices  of  the  ablest  and  most  careful  observers,  who  have  studied  pleuropneumonia  prac 
tically,  are  unanimous  on  the  point ;  and  although  in  every  country  the  tendency  has  been 
at  first  to  regard  this  insidious  disease  as  originating  from  atmospheric  agencies,  when  the 
facts  have  been  probed  by  skillful  men  the  earlier  opinions  have  been  rejected.  Gerlach, 
in  1835,  Delafond,  in  1844,  and  Sauberg,  in  1846,  published  very  abundant  and  conclu 
sive  testimony  on  this  point. 

THE  PATHOLOGY  OR  NATURE  OP  THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 

There  is  nothing  more  dangerous  and  better  calculated  to  retard  inquiry  and  truth 
than  the  common  practice  of  speculating  as  to  the  nature  of  specific  diseases  in  men  and 
animals  by  the  analogical  method.  Bovine  pleuropneumonia  has  been  widely  supposed 
to  be  an  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  governed  by  the  same  conditions  that  operate  in  rela 
tion  to  ordinary  inflammations  of  the  chest  in  the  human  family,  and,  indeed,  in  all  mam 
malia.  The  characteristic  signs  of  small-pox  depend  on  a  cutaneous  inflammation,  but 
have  appearances  different  from  the  results  of  a  scald.  It  is  as  rational  to  define  variola 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  33 

inflammation  of  the  skin  as  it  is  to  declare  that  the  lung  disease  of  cattle  is  an  inflamma 
tion  of  the  air  passages  and  lungs.  The  local  phenomena  of  the  disease  are  associated  with 
and  characterized  by  inflammatory  changes,  but  the  cause  in  operation  inducing  all  this  is 
peculiar  and  specific. 

The  lung  plague  is  a  malignant  fever,  never  generated  de  novo,  so  far  as  reliable  obser 
vation  has  yet  reached,  dependent  on  the  introduction  of  a  virus  or  contagion  into  the 
system  of  a  healthy  animal.  This  principle  produces  a  local  change  if  inserted  into  any  part 
provided  with  connective  or  fatty  tissue,  into  which  it  most  readily  penetrates.  The  same 
local  change  is  produced  by  its  contact  with  the  delicate  mucous  surface  of  the  bronchial 
tubes.  It  adheres,  spreads,  not  unlike  cancer,  regardless  of  the  nature  and  importance  of  the 
structure  it  invades,  and  traverses  the  lymphatic  vessels  to  form  deposits  in  the  neighboring 
lymphatic  glands,  but  not  generally  throughout  the  lymphatic  system.  At  first  there  is 
no  great  intensity  of  inflammation.  Suppuration  is  only  a  later  complication  from  the 
concomitant  non-specific  change  in  masses  of  areolar  or  connective  tissue.  Congestion  and 
serous  infiltration  rapidly  surround  the  spot  inoculated.  Heat,  redness,  pain,  and  swell 
ing  manifest  themselves,  and  the  reproduction  and  extension  of  the  tissue-destroying  virus 
may  be  judged  by  the  extent  of  swelling  ;  the  large  quantity  of  yellow  gelatinous  serosity  or 
exudation  which  fills  the  lung  tissue  thickens  the  white  fibrous  structures,  blocks  up  the 
adipose  tissue,  in  which  it  displaces  the  fat  corpuscles,  and  is  limited  in  many  cases  only 
by  the  extent  of  connective  tissue  it  can  invade,  by  gravitation  or  otherwise,  and  the 
endurance  of  the  animal  under  a  process  so  prostrating  and  depletive. 

That  all  this  happens,  we  have  tested  by  experiment.  A  susceptible  animal  is  inocu 
lated  in  the  dewlap,  and,  at  the  expiration  of  a  week  or  nine  days,  a  swelling  begins,  infil 
tration  extends  beneath  the  chest  and  abdomen,  involves  both  fore  legs,  is  attended  with 
great  fever,  prostration,  and  death.  In  a  second  case,  a  drop  of  virus  is  inserted  in  the  tip 
of  the  tail.  It  may  produce  a  scarcely  perceptible  local  change,  when  suddenly  a  swelling 
occurs  at  the  root  of  the  tail.  The  lymphatic  glands  there  situated  enlarge,  the  areolar  tissue 
is  distended  with  a  deposit,  such  as  ordinarily  occurs  in  this  disease  in  the  thorax,  and  so 
widely  does  this  invade  the  open  tissues  of  the  pelvis  as  to  close  the  rectum,  sometimes 
to  induce  retention  of  urine,  and,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  to  kill. 

As  in  the  case  of  variolous  inoculation,  the  effects  often  vary  with  the  quantity  of  the 
virus  introduced  into  a  part.  Many  and  deep  punctures,  especially  in  soft  and  vascular 
textures,  will  produce  malignant  variola  in  inoculating  sheep.  On  the  other  hand,  a  single 
and  superficial  puncture  results  in  a  single  pustule  and  imperceptible  general  symptoms.  It 
is  thus  with  the  lung  disease  in  cattle. 

The  slight  local  change  produced  by  a  small  quantity  of  virus,  even  though  it  has 
been  impossible  to  note  any  systemic  disturbance,  stands  for  an  attack  of  the  disease, 
and  the  animal  enjoys  almost  a  perfect  immunity  from  further  attacks. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  we  have  to  classify  bovine  pleuropneumonia  with  the  contagious 
fevers,  and  we  must  recognize  that  it  is  peculiar  and  different  from  all  other  known  diseases 
of  man  or  beast.     The  ordinary  phenomena  of  inflammations  are  but  superadded  con 
ditions,  and  an  animal  may  have  the  disease  without  indicating  their  presence. 
5 


34  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

MEDICAL  TREATMENT  OF  THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 

A  general  and  practical  review  of  the  means  employed  for  the  cure  of  the  lung  disease 
results  in  the  conviction  that,  as  a  means  to  be  relied  on  for  the  protection  of  the  farmer's 
stock  and  the  herds  of  a  country,  they  are  worse  than  useless  ;  and  it  is  necessary  to  im 
press  this  lesson  on  the  public  mind,  as  there  are  always  those  who  base  their  futile  efforts  in 
this  respect  on  the  declaration  that  all  diseases  are  curable  if  we  only  know  the  means  with 
which  to  attack  them  and  the  best  antidotes.  When  science  has  sufficiently  advanced,  it  is 
thought  disease  will  lose  all  its  power ;  and,  in  accordance  with  extravagant  views  in  this 
direction,  men  and  beasts  ought  to  attain  a  state  of  immortality  on  earth. 

It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  wherever  rational  preventive  measures  have  been  super 
seded  by  the  efforts  even  of  the  most  skilled  veterinary  practitioners,  the  mortality  by  the 
lung  plague  has  always  attained  its  highest  point  and  continued  without  intermission.  It 
must  be  thus  to  the  end  of  time. 

Nevertheless,  circumstances  arise  when  a  certain  relief  may  be  afforded  by  remedial 
agents.  A  valuable  animal  or  highly  prized  herd,  so  isolated  from  other  stock  as  to  pre 
vent  contagion,  may  be  subjected  to  rational  medical  treatment.  A  survey  of  the  means 
suggested  in  the  past,  of  the  principles  which  should  guide  us  in  the  present  state  of  knowl 
edge,  and  of  the  details  concerning  my  own  practice,  may,  therefore,  be  considered  impor 
tant  in  this  place. 

Bourgelat,  in  1769,  recommended  abundant  blood-letting  the  first,  second,  and  third 
day,  (when  the  blood  fails  to  coagulate  it  is  a  sign  that  this  operation  is  useless,)  emollient 
injections,  bland  or  soothing  beverages,  (breuvages  adoucissants,)  emollient  masticatories, 
and  emollient  fumigations  of  the  nose.  When  the  disease  is  far  advanced  blood-letting 
must  be  avoided,  and  reliance  placed  in  cinchona  bark  and  purgative  injections.  Bourge 
lat  also  prescribed  small  blood-lettings,  low  diet,  emollient  clysters,  and  fumigations  of 
acetic  acid  in  the  stables. 

There  is  little  interesting  on  this  subject  up  to  the  date  of  Delafond's  work,  1844.  He 
opens  his  chapter  on  the  curative  treatment  of  acute pleuropneumonia  as  follows  :  "Many 
persons,  and  some  veterinarians,  have  sought  in  the  arsenal  of  pharmacology  the  specific 
remedies  for  the  cure  of  pleuropneumonia.  I  declare  that  for  the  cure  of  this  disease  there 
exists  no  specific,  but  rather  rational  curative  means  based  on  the  nature,  seat,  and  stage 
of  the  malady.  The  two  great  secrets,  in  my  opinion,  are,  first,  in  recognizing  pleuro 
pneumonia  at  its  commencement ;  and,  second,  in  adopting  the  means  that  I  have  to 
describe." 

I  cannot,  with  fairness,  make  a  very  brief  summary  of  Delafond's  recommendations, 
and,  in  the  main,  shall  give  a  translation  of  them.  When  pleuropneumonia,  he  says, 
affects  a  herd  of  cattle,  the  first  animal  affected  must  be  removed  and  placed  in  an  isolated 
spot,  to  be  carefully  examined  during  the  entire  progress  of  the  case.  Frequent  examina 
tions  must  be  made  of  each  animal  in  the  herd.  All  that  show  a  short,  quick  breathing, 
numbering  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  respirations  per  minute,  and  an  accelerated  pulse, 
beating  from  sixty  to  sixty-five  times  per  minute,  in  which  the  chest  is  evidently  flattened 
either  on  one  side  or  the  other,  whose  respiratory  murmurs  are  loud  and  associated 
with  a  friction  sound,  and  which  have  their  visible  mucous  membranes  reddened,  must  be 
regarded  as  subjects  which,  notwithstanding  that  they  continue  to  eat  and  drink,  ruminate, 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  35 

and  give  milk  as  in  health,  will  in  three  or  four  days  cease  to  cat,  ruminate,  and  give 
milk.  They  will  moan  and  indicate  all  the  signs  of  pleuropneumonia  at  a  period  when  it 
is  severe  and  often  incurable. 

An  animal  chosen  with  care  in  the  earliest  stage,  and  isolated,  must  be  placed  on  low 
diet,  and  allowed  only  a  little  green  grass  or  hay.  Six  to  eight  pounds  of  blood  must  be 
drawn,  and  this  repeated  eight  or  ten  hours  later.  As  soon  as  the  blood  has  ceased  to  flow 
the  body  and  limbs  must  be  rubbed  for  half  an  hour  with  hay  or  straw  wisps,  and  a  good 
covering  must  be  thrown  over  the  body.  Three  hours  after  the  first  bleeding,  and  every 
two  hours  afterward  for  sixteen  hours,  a  draught  must  be  given,  consisting  of  one  drachm 
of  tartar  emetic  in  a  quart  of  river  or  spring  water.  For  animals  under  two  years  of  age 
the  dose  of  the  tartrate  of  antimony  should  be  half  a  drachm,  and  for  animals  from  three 
to  eight  years  of  age  a  drachm  and  a  half  each  time. 

After  the  second  bleeding  the  draughts  are  continued,  and  if,  after  twelve  hours,  the 
respirations  have  not  been  lowered  to  twenty  or  three-and-twenty  per  minute,  a  third  ab 
straction  of  the  same  quantity  of  blood  must  be  made.  If  the  pulse  becomes  strong  and 
full,  the  breathing  less  frequent,  the  mucous  membranes  paler,  and  especially  if  the  respi 
ratory  murmurs  are  less  loud,  it  may  be  considered  that  the  animal  is  saved,  and  that-  its 
convalescence  will  be  short. 

Independently  of  the  bleedings  and  the  administration  of  emetic  tartar,  about  fifteen 
liters*  of  water,  with  three  liters  of  barley,  may  be  boiled,  throwing  off  the  first  water  and 
adding  thirty  liters  more.  Two  pounds  of  sulphate  of  soda  are  added  to  this  barley  tea, 
and  one  liter  of  this  mixture  is  given,  alternately  with  the  emetic,  every  three  hours. 

Marshmallow,  linseed,  or  coarse  bran,  is  to  be  made  into  a  decoction,  and  admin 
istered  in  the  form  of  four  injections  daily.  This  same  material  may  be  used  warm  to 
steam  the  animal's  nostrils,  by  placing  it  in  a  stable  pail  and  covering  the  animal's  head 
and  the  pail  with  a  large  cloth. 

These  measures,  says  Delafond,  must  be  continued  for  three  or  four  days — indeed,  dur 
ing  the  entire  first  period  of  the  disease  ;  and  it  is  rare  that  the  respiratory  movements  do 
not  return  to  their  normal  condition.  If  the  patient  purges,  injections  of  bran  decoction 
are  recommended. 

Animals  that  present  a  yellow  or  pale  and  infiltrated  aspect  of  the  conjunctivas  must 
be  bled  to  the  extent  of  one  liter  or  a  liter  and  a  half  daily  only,  as  heavy  blood-lettings 
are  prejudicial  in  such  cases. 

When  pleuropneumonia  begins  by  an  inflammation  of  the  pleura,  the  animal  must  be 
bled  to  the  extent  of  two  to  four  pounds  two  or  three  times  daily.  The  emetic  draughts 
are  to  be  persevered  in,  the  body  well  rubbed  and  clothed,  and  the  sides  of  the  chest  must 
be  rubbed  with  hot  vinegar,  or  with  a  mixture  of  three  ounces  of  ammonia  to  one  ounce  of 
vinegar.  An  infusion,  in  two  liters  of  hot  vinegar,  of  a  pound  of  white  or  black  hellebore, 
or  of  the  large  horse-radish  sage,  may  be  found  economical  in  some  parts.  If  these  can 
not  be  had,  a  blistering  tincture  may  be  prepared,  as  follows :  Powdered  cantharides,  two 
ounces  ;  powdered  euphorbium,  one  drachm ;  alcohol,  one-half  pound.  The  three  sub 
stances  must  be  left  in  a  bottle  for  some  days,  and  then  filtered. 

If  the  symptoms  subside,  the  animal  is  to  be  kept  under  shelter  and  on  moderate 
diet.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  pleurisy  terminates  in  effusion,  and  the  lung  tissue  is  en 
gorged  and  hepatized,  no  hopes  can  be  entertained  of  the  animal's  recovery. 

*  Liter=2.113  pints. 


36  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

When  the  lung  disease  commences  by  an  active  inflammation  of  the  bronchial  tubes, 
the  jugular  vein  must  be  freely  opened  and  six  to  ten  pounds  of  blood  abstracted  ;  other 
emissions,  from  four  to  eight  pounds  each,  must  be  repeated  daily  for  two  or  three  days. 
If  the  inflammation  continues  and  spreads  to  the  lung  tissue,  the  dry  rubbing,  emollient 
fumigations,  and  injections  of  marshmallow  or  bran  decoctions,  containing  three  ounces  of 
sulphate  of  soda,  must  be  persisted  in.  This  treatment  must  be  continued  four  or  five  days  ; 
but  if  the  cough  continues,  a  seton  must  be  inserted  in  the  dewlap,  and  the  seton  medicated 
with  the  vinegar  infusion  of  the  white  or  black  hellebore.  When  the  inflammation  sub 
sides,  the  sternutatory  vinegar  prescribed. by  Mathieu  renders  good  service.  It  is  com 
pounded  as  follows  :  Alum,  sulphate  of  zinc,  Spanish  pepper,  turpentine,  one  ounce  each  ; 
camphor,  two  drachms,  strong  Burgundy  vinegar,  one  pint.  The  solid  substances  are  to 
be  powdered  and  mixed  with  the  vinegar  and  turpentine.  They  are  to  be  macerated  for 
eight  hours,  placed  in  a  well  corked  bottle,  and  well  shaken  before  being  given  to  the  ani 
mal.  Three  times  a  day,  and  when  the  animal  is  fasting,  a  small  teaspoonful  of  vinegar  is 
poured  into  one  or  the  other  of  the  nostrils.  The  animals  that  have  once  had  this  opera 
tion  performed  can  with  difficulty  be  induced  to  submit  to  it  again.  Immediately  after 
the  administration,  big  tears  drop  from  the  eyes,  and  violent  sneezing  tends  to  discharge 
mucosities  and  the  false  membranes  which  obstruct  the  bronchial  tubes  and  nasal  cavities. 
Should  the  bronchitis  terminate  in  inflammation  of  the  pulmonary  tissue,  and  this  pass 
rapidly  into  a  state  of  hepatization,  further  measures  must  be  resorted  to. 

When  pleuropneurnonia  is  simple  or  complicated  by  pleurisy  or  bronchitis,  and  termi 
nates  in  gangrene,  the  case  may  be  regarded  as  irremediable.  The  same  is  true  if  there  is 
an  abundant  effusion  in  the  pleura.  The  animal  soon  dies  .asphyxiated. 

The  symptoms  of  a  severe  and  desperate  case  are  suspension  of  feeding  and  rumina 
tion,  tympanitis,  or  distension  of  the  paunch  by  gas  immediately  after  feeding,  pulse  from 
sixty  to  seventy  and  small,  tenderness  on  pressure  of  the  sides  of  the  chest,  absence  of  re 
spiratory  murmur  and  friction  sound,  short  and  moaning  expiration,  violent  heart-beats, 
driveling  at  the  mouth,  and  the  obstinate  maintenance  of  the  standing  posture.  It  is 
difficult,  with  such  symptoms,  for  the  animal  to  recover,  but  cases  of  slow  restoration  to 
health  have  occurred. 

At  this  stage  the  animal  is  to  be  bled  daily  to  the  extent  of  two  to  four  pounds  for  two 
or  three  days.  The  emetic  drinks  must  not  be  given,  but  the  sulphate  of  soda  should  be 
persevered  with.  The  injections,  fumigations,  and  dry  rubbings  must  be  followed  up ; 
a  seton  and  one  or  two  rowels  on  the  sides  of  the  chest  are  to  be  inserted.  A  little  easily- 
digested  food  is  to  be  given  the  animal,  and  about  an  ounce  of  salt  daily.  If  the  mucous 
membrane  remains  pale  and  the  animal  feeble,  drinks  containing  vegetable  tonics,  such  as 
gentian,  &c.,  must  be  used.  Dieterichs  recommends  tar-water,  to  which  two  drachms  of 
essence  of  turpentine  are  added,  and  which  is  used  for  fifteen  or  twenty  days.  When  an 
animal  is  convalescent  it  may  be  turned  out  for  an  hour  or  two  during  fine  weather.  A 
relapse  is  to  be  treated  by  a  slight  bleeding,  low  diet,  frictions,  and  sulphate  of  soda. 

Such  are  the  long  and  precise  recommendations  which  Delafond  gave,  and  which  may 
be  viewed,  in  the  main,  as  measures  from  first  to  last  to  be  scrupulously  avoided.  Dela- 
fond's  belief  in  the  treatment  he  recommends  as  benefiting  sick  animals  is  but  one  of 
innumerable  instances  of  men  being  misled  by  nature's  own  recuperative  powers. 

Sauberg,  in  his  prize  essay  published  in  1846,  devoted  a  chapter  to  the  therapeutics 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  37 

of  pleuropneumonia,  but  tie  is  not  sparing  in  words  of  caution,  and  in  impressing  on  the 
minds  of  agriculturists  that  there  is  no  specific  against  the  disease.*  He  indorses  Dela- 
fond's  practice  of  blood-letting,  and  says  that  if  this  is  resorted  to  at  the  right  time  the 
animal  improves  at  once.  If  the  patient  is  young,  robust,  in  good  condition;  if  the  mucous 
membranes  are  red,  the  pulse  small,  hard,  and  frequent,  breathing  short  and  quick,  heart 
beats  scarcely  to  be  felt,  then  ten  to  fifteen  or  twenty  pounds  of  blood  must  be  abstracted. 
It  is  only  by  this  means,  says  Sauberg,  that  the  abundant  exudation  of  plastic  lymph  in 
the  lungs,  as  well  as  other  evil  results,  can  be  averted.  If  no  improvement  is  observed 
within  eighteen  to  twenty-four  hours,  a  second  and  even  larger  blood-letting  must  be 
performed.  After  the  fifth  day  of  an  attack  of  pleuropneumonia  Sauberg  rarely  bled,  and 
whenever  he  did  so  he  observed  great  prostration  and  often  death.  It  is  evident,  he  says, 
that,  whereas  an  early  bleeding  may  prevent  the  exudation,  should  this  have  taken  place,  the 
loss  of  blood  may  undermine  the  vital  powers  so  as  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  recovery. 

Sauberg  is  one  of  the  strongest  advocates  of  derivatives.  He  recommends  a  seton 
on  the  dewlap,  or  one  on  either  side  of  the  chest.  He  also  advises  a  blister  spread  over 
a  surface  deprived  of  hair  to  the  extent  of  a  man's  hand,  behind  each  shoulder-blade. 
The  vesicant  he  uses  is  a  compound  of  potassio-tartrate  of  antimony,  powdered  cantharides, 
and  euphorbium  of  each  three  quentchen,f  lard  four  loth,J  and  one  loth  of  oil  of  turpentine. 
He  also  suggests  the  application  of  the  red-hot  iron  to  the  sides  of  the  chest.  In  slight 
cases  rowels  dressed  with  black  hellebore  suffice.  The  quicker  and  more  active  the  results 
of  these  applications,  the  more  favorable  is  their  operation. 

The  internal  remedies  recommended  by  Sauberg  consist  mainly  of  tartar  emetic, 
which,  he  says,  is  attended  with  the  best  results.  He  gives  it  in  the  morning  in  one  or 
two  drachm  doses,  with  two  or  three  ounces  of  sulphate  of  soda,  an  ounce  of  nitrate  of 
potash,  and  half  an  ounce  of  powdered  juniper  berries.  This  has  an  effect  on  the  ani 
mal's  bowels.  In  gastric  or  bilious  complications  he  gives  the  emetic  tartar  in  two  to  four 
ounces  of  white  soap. 

When  the  fever  is  slight,  the  cough  strong,  and  appetite  good,  Sauberg  advises  not 
to  bleed,  and  the  same  applies  to  old  and  weak  animals,  especially  cows  liable  to  abort, 
&c.  He  still  persists  in  the  tartarized  antimony,  and  gives  it  with  ten  to  sixty  grains  of 
asafetida,  and  an  ounce  of  powdered  juniper  berries,  twice  daily  in  water.  Bitter  herbs, 
oil  of  turpentine,  camphor,  tar  water,  arnica,  fennel,  &c  ,  are  remedies  suggested. 

A  wise  precaution  is  insisted  on  by  Sauberg,  and  that  is  to  avoid  a  profuse  and 
debilitating  purgation. 

The  practice  recommended  by  Delafond  and  Sauberg  has  very  largely  been  carried 
out  and  recommended  by  other  authors,  such  as  Kreutzer,  Roll,  (fee.,  even  of  late.  Roll 
adds  to  the  treatment  by  bleeding,  tartar  emetic,  (fee.,  the  administration,  in  cachectic  and 
feeble  animals,  of  sulphate  of  iron  with  tar-water,  or  of  alum,  tannin,  mineral  acids,  arid 
other  tonics. 

*  At  page  131  of  Sauberg's  work,  already  quoted,  the  author  says:  "Wir  haben  kein  Arcanum  gegen  die  Lun- 
genseuche  des  Kindviehes  und  werden  auch  kc-ius  finden ;  wenn  man  nur  beriicksichtigt  wio  die  Kraukheit  bei  den 
einzelnen  Thiereu  so  verschieden  ist,  und  die  JIHtel,  die  bei  eiiiem  Kranken  mit  Nutzen  angewandt  wurden,  bei  dem 
anderen,  wenn  nicht  Nachtheile,  doch  nicht  gleich  giiustige  Erfolge  zu  Wege  brachten,  so  wird  man  sich  \vohl 
beschciden.  AVo  der  Landmann  die  Bohandlung  der  Krauken  uicht  einem  Thierarzt  anveitrauen  kann  oder  will,  sollte 
er  nur  nacli  allgemeinen  Grundsatzen  verfahren,  eine  zwcckmiissige  Diiit  anordnen,  und  nicht  sein  Heil  in  kostbareu 
Mitteln  sucheii,  der  Verbreitung  der  Seuche  moglichst  vorbauen,  und,  \vo  Heilung  der  Erkninkten  nicht  miiglich  ist, 
das  Schluchten  vorziehen." 

t  Quentchen  =  1  drachm.  t  Loth  =  one-half  ounce. 


38  J)E1'AKTMENT  OF  AGRICULTUKE. 

In  England  practitioners  have  resorted  to  various  methods  of  treatment.  The  practice 
of  blood-letting  has  long  been  abandoned,  but  the  advocates  of  setons,  and  more  particu 
larly  of  active  blistering  agents,  such  as  croton  oil,  cantharides,  and  tartar  emetic  ointmeut, 
still  exist.  Small  doses  of  calomel  and  tartar  emetic,  stimulating  draughts  containing  creo 
sote,  turpentine,  sulphuric  ether,  carbonate  of  ammonia,  and  alcohol,  have  been  more  gener 
ally  employed.  Mineral  acids,  the  administration  daily  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid  especially, 
and  an  early  resort  to  mineral  and  vegetable  tonics,  have  found  their  advocates.  Of  late 
years  the  tincture  of  aconite  has  been  in  favor  as  a  febrifuge,  and  largely  used,  and 
some  have  tried  Indian  hemp  and  other  narcotics.  Everything  has  been  tried,  without 
much  reasoning  or  careful  record  of  results.  The  important  salient  feature  in  the  history 
of  pleuropneumonia  in  England  is  that  all  the  therapeutic  skill  of  the  veterinarian  has 
not  prevented  greater  and  more  general  losses  than  have  ever  been  witnessed  in  other 
countries,  if  we  may  except  Holland. 

For  some  years  I  have  noticed  that  the  earlier  lesions  of  the  lung  disease  partake,  in 
their  character  and  results,  more  of  the  features  of  hemorrhage — a  prostrating  discharge 
from  the  blood-vessels  of  a  sero-albuminous  product — than  of  inflammation.  The  con 
gestion  and  inflammation  are  truly  secondary,  and  once  developed  it  is  apparently  impos 
sible  to  control  them,  though  their  extent  varies  greatly.  In  some  animals  but  a  portion 
of  one  lung  is  involved,  in  others  one  entire  organ  is  affected,  and  in  others,  which  cases 
are  almost  without  exception  fatal,  both  lungs  become  hepatized,  and  the  animal  dies 
sooner  or  later  of  apnoea  or  suffocation. 

Xotwifehstanding  the  well-founded  objection  of  some  distinguished  veterinarians  to  the 
practice  of  administering  mineral  astringents  as  preservatives — an  objection  to  wi,ich 
Professor  Nicklas  gave  utterance  at  the  first  international  veterinary  congress  held  in 
Hamburg  in  1863 — it  is  certain  that  they  far  surpass  all  other  means  in  the  treatment  of 
the  early  stages  of  the  lung  plague.  Professor  Nicklas  said,  with  much  truth,  that  where 
pleuropneumonia  appeared  there  were  often  persons  who  prescribed  the  sulphate  of  iron 
to  check  the  progress  of  the  disease.  The  isolation  of  such  cattle  was  not  attended  to, 
and  the  malady  continued;  whereas  if  the  sick  had  been  isolated,  or  slaughtered,  and  the 
remaining  animals  of  a  herd  inoculated,  there  would  have  been  an  end  to  the  outbreak. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  attention  is  paid  to  the  segregation  of  the  sick,  and  those  indubi 
tably  free  from  the  disease  are  inoculated,  there  is  still  a  number,  and  often  not  a  small 
number,  sure  to  die  within  a  month  or  six  weeks,  simply  because  inoculated  too  late.  These 
animals,  if  of  great  value,  and  proper  facilities  are  afforded  for  treatment  without  incurring 
the  risk  of  extension  of  the  malady,  may  often  be  treated  with  success. 

Thermometer  in  hand,  a  good  observer  and  auscultator  can  detect  the  invasion  of 
this  disease  some  days — and  even  as  long  as  ten  days  or  a  fortnight — before  marked  symp 
toms  appear.  At  that  stage,  the  peculiar  yellow  deposit  which  first  slowly  invades  the 
interlobular  tissue  of  the  lungs  is  penetrating  into  the  organ,  and  its  extension  may,  as  I 
have  noticed  frequently,  be  checked  by  active  internal  astringents.  The  best  of  these  are 
the  sesquichloride  and  the  sulphate  of  iron.  But  our  choice  extends  further,  since  vege 
table  infusions  or  decoctions  containing  tannin,  besides  the  astringent  preparations  of  lead, 
may  likewise  retard  and  arrest  the  exudation. 

I  have  on  several  occasions  been  called  to  prescribe  for  herds  in  which  I  have  readily 
traced  cases  of  pleuropneumonia  in  advanced  stages  of  the  disease.  I  have  removed  the 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  39 

marked  symptoms,  and  still  a  large  proportion  of  the  animals  had  the  peculiar  cough  so 
well  described  by  the  French  commission  ;  yet,  to  have  neglected  means  to  arrest  the  disease 
would  have  resulted  in  many  deaths.  Before  I  was  led  to  approve,  as  I  do  strongly,  of 
the  practice  of  inoculation,  and  since,  when  there  have  been  insuperable  obstacles  to  its 
adoption,  I  have  placed  all  the  herd,  sometimes  in  the  stable  and  at  other  times  in  the 
open  field,  on  regular  daily  doses  of  sulphate  of  iron,  allowing  about  half  a  drachm  or 
a  drachm  to  a  bullock,  mixed  with  a  similar  amount  of  bruised  coriander  seeds  and 
perhaps  some  bran,  the  better  to  disguise  the  iron.  Thus  mixed  with  fresh  coriander 
seeds,  cattle  will  leave  grass  to  eat  the  medicine,  and  I  have  uniformly  found  a  mitigation 
of  the  cough,  a  disappearance  of  the  malady,  and  the  herds  have  preserved  an  admirable 
condition. 

I  can  confirm  Sauberg's  statement  that  it  is  dangerous  to  resort  to  active  purgatives,  and 
the  common  symptom  of  constipation,  even  in  the  earlier  stages  of  pleuropneumonia,  can  be 
better  corrected  by  diet  and  the  administration  of  a  stimulant,  such  as  carbonate  of  ammo 
nia,  combined  with  warm  water  injections,  than  by  any  other  plan.  When  the  exudation 
in  the  lung  tissue  is  not  checked,  and  in  all  cases  where  it  has  advanced  too  far  to  admit 
of  being  checked  by  capillary  astringents,  it  is,  as  a  rule,  desirable  to  leave  animals  entirely 
to  nature. 

The  observation  of  many  hundred  cases  within  the  past  fifteen  years  has  con 
vinced  me  that,  left  entirely  to  themselves,  when  the  malady  has  fairly  developed,  a 
considerable  proportion  of  the  cattle  affected  in  one  lung  recover,  whereas  nearly  all 
those  affected  on  both  sides  die.  The  many  methods  of  treatment  recommended  have 
not  seemed  to  increase  the  average  of  recoveries  among  cases  of  one-sided  pleuro 
pneumonia. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  ascertain  the  conditions  under  which  a  small  or  a  great 
mortality  may  be  anticipated.  This  may  be  gleaned  from  the  observations  of  the  French 
commission.  They  found  some  animals  which  apparently  resisted  the  disease.  These 
were  doubtless  latent  cases,  as  they  afterward  resisted  contagion.  If  this  be  admitted,  the 
mortality  amounted  to  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  animals  affected,  and  this  mortality  is  infi 
nitely  less  than  that  observed  frequently  under  circumstances  wThich  would  appear  most 
favorable  to  the  health  of  cattle  and  their  resistance  to  disease. 

It  has  been  seen  that,  as  far  back  as  1769,  fumigations  were  recommended  for  the 
treatment  of  pleuropneumonia.  Of  late  years  carbolic  acid  has  been  strongly  recommended 
.for  this  purpose,  and  may  prove  beneficial.  Its  internal  administration  failed  many  years 
ago,  when,  under  the  name  of  creosote — for  much  of  our  foreign  creosote  is  carbolic 
acid — it  was  used  especially  by  a  distinguished  English  veterinarian,  Mr.  Charles  Hunt 
ing,  of  Fence  Houses,  near  Durham.  The  employment  of  antiseptics  comes  properly  under 
the  head  of  preventive  measures,  which  are  considered  in  a  subsequent  section  of  this 
report. 

Notwithstanding  the  many  authorities  in  favor  of  blisters,  setons,  rowels,  and  even 
the  hot  iron,  I  must  assert,  from  careful  observation,  that,  in  the  acute  stages  of  the  dis 
ease,  they  invariably  aggravate  the  malady  and  sometimes  kill.  There  are  instances 
which  indicate  the  contrary,  for,  when  examining  cases  in  Pennsylvania,  I  was  told  by  a 
farmer  that  his  cattle  were  dying,  and  he  called  in  a  professional  man  who  blistered 
severely  and  cured  several.  They  would  probably  have  recovered  if  left  to  nature,  though 


40  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

it  is  possible  that  in  some  cases  counter-irritants  may  be  useful.  The  difficulty  is  to  choose 
those  cases ;  and,  as  a  rule,  I  am  satisfied  that  any  but  the  mildest  stimulants  applied  to 
the  skin  irritate  and  do  harm. 

It  is  highly  important  that  any  medicines  given  to  cattle  with  this  disease  should  be 
given  carefully,  to  avoid  choking.  Farmers  are  often  very  rough  in  giving  drenches  to 
cattle.  They  should  go  up  to  the  off  shoulder  of  the  animal,  pass  the  left  hand  into  the 
angle  of  the  mouth  on  the  left  side,  draw  the  head  around  gently,  without  unduly  eleva 
ting  it,  and  pour  the  draught  out  of  a  small  horn  in  moderate  quantities,  giving  the  animal 
time  to  swallow.  I  remember,  as  far  back  as  1851,  being  asked  by  a  Yorkshire  veterina 
rian  to  prepare  a  number  of  draughts,  the  active  agent  of  which  was  carbonate  of  ammonia, 
for  a  herd  of  cows  affected  with  the  lung  disease.  The  draughts  were  supplied  to  the 
farmer,  and  the  very  first  day  they  were  being  administered  by  himself  and  servants, 
according  to  order,  in  gruel,  a  messenger  summoned  me  to  attend  an  animal  which 
was  killed  by  the  medicine.  On  arriving  at  the  farm,  I  perceived,  from  the  animal's 
breathing,  tremors,  difficulty  in  standing,  anxious  expression  of  countenance,  protruding 
and  blood-shot  eye-balls,  that  it  was  choking.  I  informed  the  farmer  of  the  fact  that  the 
drench  had  been  poured  the  wrong  way,  and,  since  he  was  indignant  at  the  declaration,  I 
opened  the  trachea  with  my  penknife,  and,  in  a  fit  of  coughing,  a  quantity  of  gruel,  smell 
ing  strongly  of  ammonia,  was  forcibly  ejected.  This  alone  saved  the  reputation  of  the 
medicine  and  its  compounder. 

INOCULATION  OF  THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 

In  1836  pleuropneumonia  was  imported  from  Flanders  among  cattle  fed  at  the  distil 
lery  of  Messrs.  Willems  &  Platel,  at  Hasselt,  in  Belgium.  The  town  was  rich  in  horned  stock, 
and  the  malady  formed  one  of  its  fixed  stations  and  continued  uninterruptedly  from  1836 
to  1852.  Dr.  Didot*  ascertained  beyond  a  doubt,  by  personal  inquiries  among  the  Hasselt 
distillers,  that  this  was  a  fact,  and  that  the  disease  had  never  been  absent  from  their  stables 
during  these  sixteen  years.  The  Belgian  government  had  adopted  an  imperfect  system  of 
slaughter  to  stamp  out  the  disease ;  but  the  indemnity  was  small,  and  the  distillers  found 
it  more  profitable  to  sell  their  cattle  to  butchers  ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  Hasselt,  Liege, 
Lou  vain,  Tirlemont,  Brussels,  and  Antwerp  were  supplied  with  a  large  amount  of  diseased 
meat.  Dr.  Didot  learned  that,  whereas  government  officials  slaughtered  one  to  two  per 
cent,  of  the  infected  animals,  the  butchers  purchased  and  disposed  of  fifteen,  twenty,  or 
twenty-five  animals  per  week,  according  to  the  extent  of  the  outbreaks.  In  the  town  of 
Hasselt  alone  it  is  computed  by  the  same  authority  that  16,540  head  of  sick  cattle  were 
consumed  during  the  above  period.  The  government  paid  one-third  of  the  value  of  845 
head  of  cattle  during  the  same  period.  So  late  as  1851  M.  Maris,  one  of  the  government 
veterinary  surgeons  at  Hasselt,  saw  1,300  cases  of  lung  disease  in  that  city  alone. 

From  1840  to  1850f  the  value  of  the  horned  stock  lost  by  pleuropneumonia  in  Bel 
gium  amounted  to  2,531,409  francs  and  30  centimes.  The  sum  paid  by  the  government 
in  indemnities  amounted  to  1,751,777  francs  and  40  centimes.  The  disease  continued 


*  Deux  Jours  i\  Hasselt.    Essai  sur  I'lnooulaiion  clc  la  Plciiropiieumonic  Exsiulativc  des  BCtes  Bovim-s.     Bl-nxellcs, 
1853. 

t  Rapport  Decimal  <le  1840  a  1850.    Rtfsnmd  statistique,  page  10. 


THE  LirN"O  PLAGUE. 


41 


unabated  in  1851  and  1852.  Every  effort  had  been  made  by  the  distillers  to  arrest  the 
disorder — -ventilation,  fumigation,  whitewashing,  turning  the  cattle  out  for  a  period,  the 
placing  of  pigs  in  the  stables,  under  the  impression  that  they  might  destroy  the  putrid 
materials  supposed  to  engender  the  disease,  and  so  on. 

It  so  happened  that  the  son  of  the  senior  member  of  the  first  firm  of  distillers  whose 
cattle  had  been  affected  in  1836  had  devoted  himself  to  medicine.  Dr.  Willems  studied 
the  lung  disease  with  discrimination,  but  even  so  late  as  1850  he  had  not  fully  made  up 
his  mind  as  to  the  essentially  contagious  character  of  pleuropneumonia.  Dieterichs  had 
attempted  the  inoculation  of  the  disease  in  order  to  prove  its  contagious  character,  and  had 
failed.  Vix  repeated  the  experiments,  and  obtained  results  in  the  form  of  pneumonia ;  a 
pneumonia,  says  Dr.  Willems,*  due,  in  all  probability,  to  purulent  infection.  The  French 
commission  inoculated  cows  with  the  blood,  nasal  discharge,  and  excrementitious  fluids,  in 
order  to  test  the  contagious  properties  of  pleuropneumonia.  Dr.  Willems  had,  moreover, 
observed  that  injiis  father's  stables  there  had  been,  since  1836,  over  500  animals  that 
had  suffered  from  pleuropneumonia,  a  considerable  number  of  which  had  recovered,  and 
remained  ever  after  free  from  the  disease.  Yvart,  Lafosse,  Verheyen,  and  P6try  had  made 
similar  observations.  These  facts  led  Dr.  Willems  to  institute  a  series  of  experiments  as 
to  the  possibility  of  communicating  the  disease  by  inoculation,  and  the  extent,  if  any,  of 
the  immunity  thus  secured  to  cattle. 

Dr.  Willems  adopted  the  rational  plan  of  performing  experiments  on  animals  of  dif 
ferent  species.  His  first  series  was  as  follows : 


Date. 

Material  inoculated. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

Result. 

fThi<'h 

None. 

Dec  23  1850 

J  Neck       

None. 

[Thorax  

None. 

Feb  10  1851 

Nose    ...  

None. 

Tkich    . 

None. 

Juiie  19  1851 

Thick.. 

None. 

Do 

Tin  I'll    . 

None. 

Do 

Tail  

None. 

Do 

Tail  

None. 

Do 

Tail  

None. 

Do 

Tail   

None. 

Do 

Throe  Belgian  pigs  

Tail  

None. 

July  16  1851 

Tail  

None. 

Do 

Tail  

None. 

Do 

Tail  

None. 

Do 

Tail  

None. 

Tail   

None. 

Feb.  26,  1852.... 

Liquid  from  the  luugs  used  to  inocu 
late  ray  cattle. 

<  Three  Belgian  pigs  
{  Three  pea  fowls  

Tail  
Thigh  
Thigh  

None. 
None. 
None  . 

Dr.  Willems  observed  that  inoculations  which  were  usually  accidental  in  man  were 
unattended  by  ill-effects. 


Mcmoire  sur  la  Peripnenninnie  Epizootiqne  An  Gros  Uo'tail,  par  L.  Willems,  Docteur  en  Medicine  a  Hasselt,  19. 
6 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


A  second  series  of  experiments  was  performed  on  cattle.     The  first  group  of  these 
was  as  follows : 


Date. 

Material  inoculated. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

Result. 

Feb  10  1851 

Root  of  tail 

Root  of  tail  

Root  of  tail  

gar  and  water. 

A  bullock   

Root  of  tail  

Slight  inflammation 

The  second  group  of  observations  is  indicated  below : 


Date. 

Material  inoculated. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

March  5  1851 

• 
Root  of  tail 

Pulmonary  exudation  

Five  lean  bullocks  

Fifteen  days  after  the  inoculation  small  tumors  were  observed  at  the  root  of  the  tail, 
causing  this  organ  to  be  slightly  raised.  In  one  the  tumor  speedily  disappeared;  in 
the  other  the  swelling  enlarged,  became  very  hard,  attained  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg,  was 
situated  between  the  anus  and  the  root  of  the  tail,  and  yielded  gradually,  without  suppu 
rating,  to  scarifications  and  a  saline  purgative. 

Of  the  five  other  bullocks  four  showed  no  signs;  the  fifth,  three  weeks  after  the 
inoculation,  manifested  a  swelling  of  the  head  on  the  operated  side.  Two  incisions  were 
made,  emollients  applied,  and  a  purgative  administered.  Low  diet  was  also  prescribed. 
On  the  20th  of  April  the  whole  side  of  the  head  was  swollen  and  almost  of  scirrhous  hard 
ness.  Two  deep  incisions  were  made  without  finding  pus.  In  the  nose,  at  the  point  where 
the  inoculation  was  performed,  was  a  wound  of  unhealthy  aspect  from  which  a  sanious  pus 
was  discharged.  The  ox  grew  lean.  On  the  17th  of  May  a  little  pus  flowed  from  the  two 
incisions  made  on  the  20th  of  April;  afterward  much  pus  flowed  from  these  incisions,  as 
well  as  shreds  of  areolar  tissue  and  portions  of  dead  skin.  The  tumor  was  subsiding.  On 
the  22d  of  May  a  fluctuating  tumor  appeared  below  the  jaws,  from  which  much  indolent- 
looking  pus  escaped.  From  that  moment  the  ox  began  to  thrive,  notwithstanding  that  the 
suppurations  continued  till  the  5th  of  June.  By  the  10th  of  June  recovery  was  complete. 
Dr.  Willems  despaired  for  several  days  of  this  animal's  return  to  health,  and  he  resolved 
not  to  inoculate  again  in  the  same  region. 

THIRD    GROUP    OF    OBSERVATIONS. 

On  the  10th  of  May  Dr.  Willems  inoculated  nine  Dutch  bullocks  and  two  lean  Belgian 
cows.  He  made  two  punctures  in  the  tail  of  each,  and  used  blood  expressed  from  the 
muscles  and  liquid  squeezed  out  of  the  lung  of  a  cow  suffering  under  the  third  stage  of 
pleuropneumonia. 

Several  bullocks  showed  the  effects  of  inoculation  by  the  19th  of  May;  two  more 
severely  than  the  rest.  On  the  21st  of  May  there  was  a  decided  swelling  of  the  tail  iu 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 


43 


six  bullocks  and  one  cow.     Incisions  were  made  to  relieve  the  parts,  emollients  applied, 
and  purgatives  administered. 

On  the  26th  of  May  seven  out  of  the  nine  bullocks  and  one  cow  presented  consider 
able  tumefaction  at  the  root  of  the  tail ;  incisions  and  emollients  were  resorted  to.  On 
the  31st  of  May  the  swelling  of  the  parts  inoculated  disappeared,  and  the  animals  regained 
their  appetite  and  vivacity. 

Two  of  the  nine  bullocks  by  this  time  suffered  much ;  the  root  of  the  tail,  the  tissues 
around  the  anus,  and  the  nates,  were  consolidated  and  enlarged  by  a  deposit.  In  spite  of 
all  efforts,  the  free  excision  of  the  material  so  as  to  produce  an  artificial  anus,  the  obstacle 
to  defecation  was  so  great,  the  straining  so  violent  and  constant,  and  the  vital  powers  sunk 
so  low,  that  on  the  8th  of  June  they  died.  Dr.  Willems  observed  that  in  incising  these 
tumors  the  animals  suffered  no  pain. 

On  the  9th  of  June  these  animals  were  dissected.  One  presented  a  generally  healthy 
condition  of  the  internal  organs.  The  lesions  were  localized  in  the  anal  region.  The  muscles 
and  other  tissues  around  were  of  a  pale  red  color,  interspersed  with  degenerated  tissue. 
There  was  no  suppuration.  The  anus  and  its  surroundings  for  at  least  twelve  inches  in  di 
ameter  appeared  gangrenous.  The  lungs  were  of  dark  color,  slightly  congested,  and  pre 
senting  but  the  slightest  trace  of  marbled  hepatization.  The  gall  bladder  was  found  full  of 
black  dense  bile.  There  was  slight  serous  effusion  in  the  peritoneum,  and  the  mucous  lin 
ing  of  the  intestines  presented  red  or  brown  punctiform  discolorations  and  some  patches 
of  red  injection. 

In  the  second  bullock  the  lesions  were  more  extensive.  The  mortification  of  tissues 
extended  up  the  rectum  a  distance  of  six  inches.  The  peritoneum  was  inflamed,  in  some 
parts  adherent  by  its  opposing  surfaces,  and  a  reddish  serosity  was  effused  in  its  cavity. 
The  liver  was  softened,  degenerated,  of  a  light  yellowish  color.  The  mucous  membrane 
of  the  tongue  and  windpipe  was  of  a  dark  brown  color.  The  lungs  were  black,  flaccid, 
and  in  the  pleural  sacks  was  a  citrine-colored  serous  exudation.  In  the  general  disorgan 
ization  of  the  organs  of  this  animal  the  most  interesting  feature  was  a  number  of  cysts, 
with  delicate  walls,  distended  by  a  dried  homogeneous  material  similar  to  that  inclosed  in 
the  intestinal  tubercles  of  animals  that  die  of  pleuropneumonia.  Some  of  these  little  sac- 
cules  were  in  the  folds  of  the  peritoneum,  but  the  majority,  at  least  sixty,  were  in  the 
thorax  and  on  the  internal  surface  of  the  ribs. 

FOUETH   GROUP   OF   OBSERVATIONS. 

Alarmed  by  the  foregoing  results,  Dr.  Willems  determined  on  attempting  inoculation 
at  the  tip  of  the  tail,  as  follows  : 


Date. 


Material  used. 


Animals  inoculated. 


Seat  of  inoculation. 


June  19,  1851.. 


Pulmonary  exudation  from  an  animal  in 

the  first  stage  of  disease. 
Pulmonary  exudation  from  an  animal  in 

the  first  stage  of  disease. 
Pulmonary  exudation  from  an  animal  in 

the  first  stage  of  disease. 
Pulmonary  exudation  from  an  animal  in 

the  first  stage  of  disease. 


Five  lean  Belgian  bullocks  . 

One  Dutch  bullock 

One  calf  two  months  old. .. 
One  calf  three  months  old.. 


Tip  of  tail. 
Tip  of  tail. 
Tip  of  tail. 
Tip  of  tail. 


44 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


On  the  30th  of  June  a  slight  swelling  was  observed  in  the  parts  inoculated,  except  in 
the  cases  of  one  bullock  and  two  calves.  The  symptoms  of  inflammation  advanced,  and 
on  the  22d  of  July  the  tips  of  the  tails  of  four  bullocks  were  completely  gangrenous  and 
detached.  From  that  time  the  animals  improved. 


FIFTH   GROUP   OF   OBSERVATIONS. 


Date. 

Material  used. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

Result. 

June  20  1851 

Tip  of  tail 

Slight  swcllini'on  the2(ith 

animal  in  first  stage  of 
disease. 

locks. 

Tip  of  tail. 

of  July,  and  speedy  re 
covery. 

aniimil  in  first  stage  of 
disease. 

SIXTH    GROUP   OF    OBSERVATIONS. 


Date. 

Material  used. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

July  Ifi,  1851  .. 

Pulmonary  liquid 

Tip  of  tail. 

Do  .   .   .. 

Tip  of  tail. 

Do  ... 

One  Dutch  bull 

Tip  of  tail. 

Do 

Tip  of  tail. 

On  the  24th  of  July  four  showed  swelling  of  the  tail ;  on  the  29th  all  had  the  enlarge 
ment,  and  on  the  10th  of  August  Dr.  Willems  amputated  the  tail-tips  of  four. 


SEVENTH   GROUP   OF   OBSERVATIONS. 


Date. 


Material  used. 


Animals  inoculated. 


Seat  of  inoculation. 


Aug.  18,1851. 


Pulmonary  liquid  from  a  bullock  in  third 

stage  of  disease. 
Pulmonary  liquid  from  a  bullock  in  third 

stage  of  disease. 
Pulmonary  liquid  from  a  bullock  in  third 

stage  of  disease. 
Pulmonary  liquid  from  a  bullock  in  third 

stage  of  disease. 


Seven  lean  two-year  old  bullocks. 
One  Dutch  milch  cow 


Fourteen  lean  bullocks,'  from    three  to 

four  years  old. 
One  Belgian  milch  cow 


Tip  of  tail. 
Tip  of  tail. 
Tip  of  tail. 
Tip  of  tail. 


On  the  9th  of  September  the  Dutch  cow  and  two  bullocks  presented  the  first  symp 
toms,  and  the  remainder  showed  signs  on  the  14th,  and  afterward  recovered. 


EIGHTH   GROUP   OF   OBSERVATIONS. 


Date. 

Material  used. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

Nov.  16,  1851. 

Pulmonary  exudation  from  a  bullock  in 

Four  small  indigenous  cows  

Tip  of  tail. 

the  first  stage,  and  kept  ten  days  to 
note  if  it  lost  its  properties. 

THE  LUXG  PLAGUE. 


45 


Ten  days  after  the  inoculation  the  first  symptoms  of  specific  inflammation  appeared, 
and  all  recovered. 


NINTH    GROUP   OF   OBSERVATIONS. 


Date. 

Matcrial  used. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

Jan.  19,  1852.. 

Pulmonary  exudation  from  cow  in  third 

Five  Belgian  bullocks  

Tip  of  tail. 

stage  of  the  disease. 

One  Dutch  bullock  ..  ..     

On  the  2d  of  February  the  greater  part  of  these  animals  showed  signs  of  the  inocula 
tion,  and  afterward  recovered. 

One  animal  on  the  3d  of  February  had  a  swelling  in  the  upper  part  of  the  right  hind 
limb.  The  tumor  increased,  and  the  animal  suffered  intensely.  Incisions,  emollients,  and 
purgatives  were  resorted  to  as  usual.  By  the  8th  of  February  the  swelling  had  invaded 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  right  hip,  pushed  the  tail  to  the  left,  and  the  anus  was  partly  oc 
cluded  so  as  to  cause  difficulty  in  defecation.  The  animal  died  on  the  10th.  Post-mortem 
appearances  indicated  little  else  beyond  the  thickening  of  the  skin  and  subcutaneous  tis 
sues  of  the  right  hip.  There  was  some  discoloration  of  the  intestines,  flaccid  appearance  of 
muscles,  and  dark  color  of  lungs,  but  no  specific  appearances  in  internal  organs. 

TENTH   GROUP   OF   OBSERVATIONS. 


Date. 

Material  inoculated. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Seat  of  inoculation. 

Jan.  30,  1852.. 

Pulmonary  exudation  in  first  stage  of 
disease. 

Four  old,  lean,  but  strong,  Dutch  bul 
locks. 

Tip  of  tail. 

Two  presented  swelling  on  the  12th  of  February,  and  recovered  ;  the  others  showed 
no  signs. 


ELEVENTH   GROUP   OF   OBSERVATIONS. 


Date. 

Material  inoculate 

(I. 

Animals  inoculated. 

Scat  of  inoculation. 

Vpb    5fi     1  H^9 

Tip  of  tail. 

first  stage. 
Pulmonary  exudation  from 
first  stage. 

bullock  in 

Six  fine  Belgian  steers  

Tip  of  tail. 
Tip  of  tail. 

first  stage. 
Pulmonary  exudation  from 

first  stage. 

bullock  in 

One  indigenous  cow. 

From  the  13th  to  the  20th  of  March  the  effects  of  the  inoculations  were  developed. 
One  animal  only  of  the  first  group  lost  a  little  of  its  tail. 


\ 


46  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Dr.  Willems  proceeded  further.  On  the  19th  of  June,  1851,  he  inoculated  several 
cattle  with  the  liquid  expressed  from  healthy  lungs  without  producing  any  effect.  He 
then  inoculated  a  bullock  that  had  previously  had  the  disease,  and  witnessed  no  results  ex 
cept  a  little  enlargement  at  the  seat  of  the  puncture.  On  the  28th  of  August,  1861,  he 
reinoculated  a  bullock  that  had  been  operated  on  six  or  seven  months  previously,  and  had 
lost  his  tail ;  and  did  the  same  with  two  small  cows. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1852,  he  reinoculated  three  large  bullocks,  and  on  the  26th 
of  February  three  other  bullocks,  the  whole  of  which  had  been  successfully  operated  on 
before. 

Fifty  cattle  that  had  not  been  inoculated  were  mixed  in  a  stable  with  those  referred 
to,  and  with  the  following  result : 

In  the  month  of  May,  1851,  three  bullocks  sickened;  on  the  22d  of  June  a  fourth 
case  ;  on  the  26th  a  fifth ;  on  the  26th  of  July  a  sixth ;  and  at  different  dates  up  to  the 
10th  of  March,  1852,  seventeen  of  the  newly  inoculated  animals  had  suffered,  and  were 
sold  for  slaughter,  whereas  the  other  thirty-three  had  doubtless  a  latent  form  of  the  malady. 

The  conclusions  drawn  by  Dr.  Willems  were  as  follows  : 

1.  Pleuropneumonia  is  not  contagious  by  inoculation  of  the  blood  or  other  matters 
taken  from  diseased  animals  and  placed  upon  healthy  ones. 

2.  By  the  method  that  I  employed  one  hundred  and  eight  beasts  were  preserved 
from  pleuropneumonia,  while  of  fifty  beasts  placed  in  the  same  stables  and  not  inoculated, 
seventeen  became  diseased,  and  the  disease  is  now  banished  from  these  stables,  which  had 
never  been  free  from  it  since  1836. 

3.  The  inoculation  of  the  disease  itself,  performed  in  the  manner  that  I  have  described, 
whether  it  may  have  occasioned  apparent  morbid  manifestations  or  not,  was  the  measure 
that  preserved  the  animals  from  pleuropneumonia. 

4.  The  blood  and  the  serous  and  frothy  liquid  squeezed  from  the  lungs  of  a  diseased 
animal  in  the  first  stage  of  pleuropneumonia  are  the  most  suitable  matter  for  inoculation. 

5.  The  inoculation  of  the  virus  takes  from  ten  days  to  a  month  before  it  manifests 
itself  by  sensible  symptoms. 

6.  The  matter  employed  for  the  inoculation  has,  in  general,  no  effect  upon  an  animal 
previously  inoculated  or  having  had  the  disease. 

7.  The  inoculated  animal  braves  the  epizootic  influences  with  impunity,  and  fattens 
better  and  more  rapidly  than  those  in  the  same  atmosphere  with  it  that  have  not  been 
inoculated. 

8.  The  inoculation  should  be  performed,  with  prudence  and  circumspection,  upon  lean 
animals  in  preference,  and  toward  the  tenth  day  after  the  operation  a  saline  purge  may  be 
given,  and  repeated  if  necessary. 

9.  By  inoculating  pleuropneumonia  a  new  disease  is  produced;  the  affection  of  the 
lungs,  with  all  its  peculiar  characters,  is  localized  in  some  sort  on  the  exterior. 

10.  The  virus  obtained  from  oxen  affected  with  pleuropneumonia  is  of  a  nature  entirely 
specific;  it  does  not  always  act  as  a  virus;  the  bovine  race  alone  is  affected  by  its  inocur 
lation,  while  other  animals  of  different  races,  inoculated  in  the  same  manner  and  with 
the  same  liquid,  experience  no  ill-effects. 

Dr.  Willems  accomplished  much  in  his  earlier  experiments,  as  will  be  seen  by  com 
paring  the  knowledge  of  the  present  day  with  the  results  of  his  original  investigations. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  47 

One  cause  contributed  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  his  adversaries,  and  this  was  his  attempt 
to  prove  that  specific  and  characteristic  elements  distinguished  the  virus  of  pleuro- 
pneumonia. 

Dr.  Willems  says : 

I  have  examined  various  pathological  specimens  with  the  object  of  studying  and  elucidating  the  question  of 
inoculation.  My  investigations  have  been  principally  directed  to  diseased  lungs,  and  to  a  kind  of  tubercle,  hitherto 
overlooked,  but  which  I  have,  nevertheless,  constantly  met  with  upon  opening  the  dead  bodies  of  animals  that  died 
from  pleuropneumouia.  These  tubercles,  scattered  throughout  the  intestines,  but  principally  in  the  smaller  one,  are  of 
a  size  varying  from  the  head  of  a  pin  to  that  of  a  largo  pea,  of  a  yellowish  or  greenish  color.  They  are  seated  in  the 
sub-mucous  cellular  tissue,  and  partly  in  the  thickness  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  intestine.  They  do  not  appear 
to  have  any  relation  to  the  glands  of  Peyer  or  of  Brunner.  Are  they  hypertrophied  follicles  I  Nothing  appears  to 
prove  it;  no  opening  is  perceived  in  them.  They  are  formed  of  a  homogeneous,  whitish  matter,  more  or  less  hard, 
showing  under  the  microscope  grannlons  kernels  and  an  innumerable  quantity  of  small  elementary  corpuscles,  which 
enjoy  a  molecular  motion,  and  which  are  also  mot  with  in  diseased  lungs.  I  have  examined  under  the  microscope 
parts  of  the  lungs  of  animals  diseased  with  pneumonia,  with  a  power  magnifying  four  hundred  and  fifty  diameters, 
which  is  higher  than  that  employed  by  Professor  Glngo  in  his  beautiful  anatomico-pathological  researches  upon  pleuro 
pneumouia.  The  exuded  matter  presented  no  structure.  I  met  with  no  other  anatomical  elements  than  granular 
cells  and  elementary  corpuscles,  provided  with  a  particular  motion,  the  whole  pretty  much  resembling  an  inflamma 
tory  exudation,  remarkable  for  its  great  quantity.  The  plastic  exudation  is  formed  in  so  rapid  a  manner,  and  in  such 
considerable  quantity,  that  anatomical  elements  of  a  superior  development  to  that  of  these  cells  could  not  be  produced 
in  them ;  consequently  no  cells  or  globules  of  pus  (I  have  never  found  any)  or  libers  are  ever  met  with  there.  The 
energy  of  the  cellular  tissue  appears  to  exhaust  itself  upon  too  large  a  quantity  of  exuded  matter  for  the  latter  to  be 
carried  to  a  higher  degree  of  organization.  It  is  the  same  as  is  observed  sometimes  in  the  regeneration  of  tissues;  in 
the  section  of  nerves,  for  example,  and  in  the  fracture  of  bones,  when  the  exuded  liquid  is  in  too  largo  a  quantity,  or 
the  fragments  are  too  much  separated,  a  part  of  the  liquid,  being  beyond  the  circle  of  action  of  the  energy  of  existing 
tissues,  always  remains  at  an  inferior  degree  of  development  to  that  of  the  neighboring  tissues.  What  is  most  important 
to  be  shown  here,  and  of  which  no  one  has  hitherto  spoken,  is  the  existence  in  diseased  lungs  of  small  corpuscles, 
endowed  with  a  molecular  motion,  which  appears  sometimes  to  be  made  in  a  given  direction.  They  are  like  corpuscles 
in  process  of  formation,  the  motion  of  which  resembles  that  of  the  granules  of  pigment,  as  well  as  those  which  surround 
the  corpuscles  of  the  tuberculous  matter  in  man.  In  all  my  microscopical  researches  I  have  constantly  found  the  same. 

Wishing  to  know  whether  these  corpuscles  exist  in  any  other  substances  than  those  already  examined,  I  sub 
mitted  to  the  microscope — 

1.  The  saliva  of  a  healthy  ox  under  epizootic  influence. 

2.  The  saliva  of  a  diseased  cow  toward  the  third  stage  of  the  disease. 

3.  The  urine  of  the  same  cow. 

4.  The  blood  of  the  same  cow. 

5.  The  blood  of  a  healthy  ox  under  epizootic  influence  for  five  months. 

6.  The  blood  of  a  healthy  ox  not  under  epizootic  influence. 

7.  Parts  of  the  liver  and  of  the  large  right  pectoral  muscle  from  a  diseased  cow. 

In  none  of  these  matters  did  I  find  the  small  corpuscles  with  molecular  motion  which  I  have  constantly  met 
with  in  the  lungs  and  in  the  intestinal  tubercles  of  animals  affected  with  pleuropiicumonia.  That,  then,  is  the  prin 
cipal  seat  of  the  disease.  Are  these  corpuscles  primitive  or  consequent  on  the  disease  ?  This  question  cannot  be 
decided  now ;  I  only  wish  hero  to  verify  their  presence  in  plenropneuinonia. 

I  examined  with  the  microscope  parts  of  the  skin  of  an  ox  that  died  of  inoculation.  I  there  found  the  same 
microscopical  elements  and  the  same  chemical  characters  as  in  the  lungs  diseased  with  pneumonia. 

Professor  Gluge,  one  of  the  members  of  the  Belgian  commission  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  efficacy  of  inoculation,  reported,  on  the  10th  of  July,  1852,  as  follows: 

It  results,  from  the  demonstrations  made  by  Dr.  Willems  and  our  own  researches — 

1.  That  epizootic  pleuropneumonia  has  uo  characteristic  anatomical  products  appreciable-  by  the  microscope. 

2.  That  the  inflammatory  product  is  not  distinguished  from  any  other  product  of  inflammation  by  anatomical 
character. 

3.  That  M.  Willems's  assertions  are  not  accurate. 

4.  That  this  circumstance,  doubtless  unfortunate,  does  not  in  any  way  prejudice  the  practical  question,  which  it 
appears  to  me  ought  to  be  especially  examined. 

But  Professor  Verheyen,  who  was  the  president  of  this  commission,  continued  until 
his  death  to  throw  discredit  on  the  preservative  efficacy  of  inoculation,  and  though  he 
based  most  of  his  conclusions  on  hypotheses,  he  was  ready  to  avail  himself  of  everything 
that  presented  itself  to  strengthen  his  position. 


48  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGKICULTURE. 

Three  commissions  were  almost  simultaneously  at  work  to  ascertain  the  merits  of 
Dr.  Willems's  discovery. 

The  first  in  Holland,  appointed  on  the  17th  of  April,  1852,  consisted  of  the  director 
and  professors  of  the  veterinary  school  at  Utrecht.* 

From  the  14th  of  June,  1852,  to  the  9th  of  July  following,  the  commission  inoculated 
for  fourteen  proprietors  two  hundred  and  forty-seven  head  of  cattle  of  various  ages  and 
condition.  In  this  number  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  milch  cows,  six  young 
cows  that  had  not  yet  calved,  thirty-two  heifers,  and  fifty-five  calves.  The  phenomena  of 
the  operation  were  not  manifested  at  once  on  all  the  beasts  that  were  subjected  to  it. 
The  proportions  between  the  inoculation  and  its  consequences  are  nearly  constant  in  milch 
cows  and  heifers;  they  are  found  to  be  about  as  three  to  two.  In  calves,  on  the  contrary, 
the  proportion  is  less ;  it  is  as  four  and  a  quarter  to  one.  A  great  difference  was  observed 
in  the  effects  on  cattle  of  different  proprietors.  Thus,  out  of  thirteen  milch  cows  belonging 
to  Degroot,  four  only  experienced  the  consequences,  while  with  the  cattle  belonging  to 
Wynen  it  was  successful  in  eighteen  out  of  twenty;  and  yet  the  matter  used  for  the 
inoculation  at  these  two  farms  came  from  the  same  lung.  Other  similar  variations  were 
observed,  and  were  not  attributed  exclusively  by  the  commission  to  a  greater  or  less 
predisposition  to  pleuropneumonia.  They  thought  it  a  more  probable  explanation  of  the 
fact  that  the  disease,  raging  with  greater  violence  and  upon  a  greater  number  of  beasts  in 
one  stable  than  another,  existed  in  germ  at  the  time  of  inoculation,  although  there  were 
no  symptoms  to  indicate  it.  Thence  it  was,  then,  that  with  one  exception  pleuropneu 
monia  caused  the  greatest  losses  to  the  proprietors  on  whose  cattle  the  inoculation  took 
least.  The  inoculated  beasts  that  the  commission  had  to  report  on  as  having  been  attacked 
by  pleuropneumonia  were  sixteen  in  number.  Although  this  figure,  they  say,  is  pretty 
considerable,  it  proves  in  no  wise  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  preservative  power  of  the 
inoculation;  for  it  was  to  be  expected  that  cases  of  pleuropneumonia,  more  or  less  numerous, 
would  present  themselves  among  the  cattle  subjected  to  the  operation,  since  they  had  been 
stabled  with  infected  animals,  and  at  the  time  of  performing  it  there  were  still  several 
affected  with  the  disease.  "We  cannot  omit  to  state,"  adds  the  reporter,  "that  upon 
none  of  these  animals  was  the  inoculation  succeeded  by  local  phenomena."  The  opinion 
of  those  who  thought  that  pleuropneumonia  acquires  by  inoculation  a  milder  character, 
and  terminates  more  favorably,  was  not  confirmed;  the  greater  number  of  the  animals 
attacked  perished.  The  operation  had  not  the  least  influence  upon  the  beasts  which,  at 
the  time  it  was  performed,  were  evidently  affected  with  pleuropneumonia.  Several  beasts 
that  were  known  for  some  time  to  have  been  affected  with  pleuropneumonia  experienced 
not  the  least  effect  from  the  inoculation. 

The  report  from  which  the  foregoing  has  been  extracted  bears  the  date  of  the  21st 
of  September,  1852,  and  the  results  are  indicated  by  the  annexed  table. 

The  second  report,  bearing  date  of  the  28th  of  December,  1852,  and  prepared  by  the 
same  commission,  furnishes  facts  recorded  in  the  subjoined  table. 

The  conclusions  drawn  from  the  experiments  were  summarized  as  follows  : 

1.  Although  the  inoculation  of  pleuropneumonia  is  not,  in  all  respects,  an  inoffensive 
operation — as  extensive  derangements  and  even  death  may  result  from  it — its  effects  are 
generally  confined  to  the  part  where  it  has  been  applied. 

*  Further  papers  respecting  plouropueumouia  in  cattle,  presented  to  the  British  House  of  Commons  by  command 
of  her  Majesty,  December  6,  1852. 


THE  LUXG  TLAGUE.  49 

2.  In  order  to  prevent,  as  much  as  possible,  its  unfavorable  consequences,  it  is  neces 
sary  to  use  some  precaution,  both  in  the  selection  of  the  matter  for  inoculation  and  in  the 
period  of  its  application.     The  season,  the  atmospheric  circumstances,  and  the  state  of  nutri 
tion,  exert  considerable  influence  upon  the  success.     The  autumn  appears,  for  more  than 
one  reason,  to  be  the  most  suitable  time. 

3.  When  an  intense  action  and  serious  casualties  appear  locally  and  in  the  more  dis 
tant  organs,  they  may  be  attributed  to  exterior  circumstances  and  to  the  individual  con 
stitution.     This  being  the  case,  casualties  cannot  always  be  avoided. 

4.  If  serious  complications  appear  and  affect  the  essential  organs  so  as  to  cause  the 
reaction  of  the  whole  organism,  it  is  as  difficult  to  prevent  them  and  arrest  their  progress 
as  it  is  to  cure  pleuropneumonia. 

5.  In  the  violent  cases,  terminating  in  death,  lesions  in  the  thorax  or  the  lungs  have 
never  been  met ;  hitherto  they  have  always  been  concentrated  in  the  abdominal  cavity. 

6.  The  inoculation  produces  no  unfavorable  effects,  either  upon  the  constitution  or 
the  yield  of  milk,  while  its  action  is  limited  to  a  local  affection.     Only  in  the  cases  where 
abundant  deposits  succeed  a  too  intense  local  action  do  the  animals  continue  sickly  during 
a  considerable  period  of  time. 

7.  The  operation  has  not  had  a  determined  influence  on  the  excitement  of  oestrum. 
In  proportion  this  has  been  more  frequent  on  the  inoculated  than  on  the  uninoculated  cows. 
It  is,  however,  to  be  remarked  that  No.  25  has  not  yet  been  in  heat,  although  the  period 
for  it  has  long  since  passed. 

8.  The  return  of  the  uterine  heats  with  the  two  cows  Nos.  5  and  12,  probably  in  con 
sequence  of  abortion,  can  the  less  be  referred  to  the  inoculation,  as  these  two  cases  are 
isolated  and  the  effects  were  not  observed  in  Nos.  19,  21,  and  23,  which  were  very  mark 
edly  subject  to  sexual  excitement. 

9.  It  cannot  be  determined  with  complete  certainty  whether  the  premature  partu 
rition  of  a  cow  near  her  time,  (No.  10,)  as  well  as  the  consecutive  phenomena  observed  in 
the  mother  and  the  calf,  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  inoculation ;  it  is  the  same  with  the 
cow  No.  14,  which  calved  before  her  time.     These  circumstances  are,  however,  of  a  nature 
to  discourage  the  inoculation  of  females  in  an  advanced  stage  of  gestation. 

10.  As  abortion  is  frequent  in  the  course  of  pleuropneumonia,  it  cannot  be  passed 
over  in  silence  that  this  complication  has  never  appeared  with  the  beasts  that  have  suffered 
so  seriously  from  the  inoculation  as  to  sink  under  it.     If,  therefore,  the  operation  has  any 
influence  upon  gestation,  it  can  be  only  in  the  last  stage. 

11.  The   hypothesis  already  proposed  in  our"  first  report,  that  the  evolution  of  pleuro 
pneumonia  after  the  inoculation  ought  to  be  attributed  to  the  existence  of  the  germ  of  the 
disease  before  the  operation,  notwithstanding  the  absence  of  every  morbid  phenomenon, 
acquires  a  higher  degree  of  probability  from  our  experiments. 

12.  The  opinion  of  those  who  hold  that  cattle  which  have  had  pleuropneumonia  and 
have  recovered  do  not  contract  it  a  second  time,  or  at  least  rarely,  and  that  the  inoculation 
is  performed  without  success  upon  these  individuals,  is  again  confirmed  by  No.  16,  which 
was  inoculated  twice,  but  in  vain. 

13.  Our  experiments  furnish  the  remarkable  proof  that  a  power,  at  least  temporary, 
of  insuring  against  the  contagion  of  pleuropneumonia  cannot  be  denied  to  the  inoculation  ; 
it  remains  uncertain,  however,  to  what  extent  the  predisposition  to  contract  this  disease  is 

7 


50  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

destroyed,  either  entirely  or  for  a  limited  period.     Much  time  will  be  necessary,  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  question,  before  a  positive  solution  of  it  can  be  arrived  at. 

Verheyen,  as  president  reporter  of  the  Belgian  commission,  issued  a  report  dated 
Brussels,  February  6,  1853.  It  opened  in  the  following  terms : 

In  ;i  first  report,  embracing  the  period  from  the,  24th  of  May  to  the  15th  of  July,  1852,  it  is  stated  that  the  commis 
sion  hud  inoculated,  either  by  the  operations  of  its  members  or  under  its  supervision,  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
beasts  of  the  boyine  race  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes.  Eight  herds,  numbering  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  head,  in 
habited  stables  in  which  plcuropueumonia  had  lately  raged,  or  was  still  raging  at  the  time  of  the  inoculation  ;  eight 
other  herds,  composed  of  sixty  beasts,  abode  in  healthy  localities,  or  such  as  were  considered  healthy,  inasmuch  as  they 
had  never  been  visited  by  the  disease  or  had  been  spared  by  the  scourge  for  at  least  eighteen  months. 

AVe  made  it  appear — 

1.  That  the  operation  had  been  followed  by  effects  upon  all  the  cattle  inoculated. 

2.  That  the  matter  remained  inert  upon  two  cows  that  we  knew  to  have  escaped  from  exudative  pleuropneumonia. 

3.  That  five  eows  had  perished  from  the  consequences  of  inoculation. 

4.  That  two  had  lost  the  whole  of  their  tails. 

5.  That  six  had  partially  lost  them. 

fi.  That  four  calves  had  been  seized  with  an  articular  affection. 

7.  That,  contrary  to  Mr.  Willems's  observations,  the  insertion  of  the  matter  in  the  tails  of  calves  produced  a  local 
affection  there. 

8.  That,  finally,  at  the  moment  of  dispatching  that  first  report,  M.  Dele  informed  the  commission  that  a  case  of 
pleiiropneiimoiiia  had  just  appeared  at  the  Abbey  of  La  Trappo  upon  an  inoculated  cow. 

The  favorable  situation  certified  on  the  15th  of  July  has  been  maintained,  with  but  one  exception,  for  the  individ 
uals  of  those  herds  which  the  proprietors  still  possess.  The  articular  affection  observed  in  four  cows  has  not  occurred 
again;  therefore,  a  simple  coincidence  must  bo  admitted,  and  this  casualty  explained  independent  of  inoculation. 

The  commission  resolved  on  extending  its  operations,  and  this  they  did  by  associat 
ing  with  themselves  all  the  country  veterinary  practitioners,  in  accordance  with  the 
organization  of  the  civil  veterinary  service  in  Belgium,  and,  secondly,  by  undertaking  a 
series  of  direct  experiments. 

The  government  on  its  part  did  not  remain  inactive.  It  organized  local  commissions 
charged  with  the  supervision  of  the  operations ;  the  losses  occasioned  by  the  inoculation 
were  assimilated  to  those  of  animals  slaughtered  on  account  of  public  benefit;  it  under 
took  to  pay  the  difference  between  the  estimated  price  and  the  selling  price  of  the  inocu 
lated  beasts  which,  contracting  exudative  pleuropneumonia,  should  be  sent  by  their  pro 
prietors  to  the  shambles,  and  of  which  the  officers  at  the  latter  would  make  declarations 
to  the  authorities. 

Further  on  M.  Verheyen  says: 

Wishing  to  free  the  inoculation  from  the  numerous  accessory  questions  which  that  practice  occasions,  the  com 
mission  adopted  for  its  experiments,  and  submitted  to  the  minister  of  the  interior  for  his  sanction,  this  simple  programme: 

1.  To  purchase  sound  beasts;  to  watch  them  during  a  certain  time,  in  order  to  be  assured  of  the  integrity  of  their 
pulmonary  organs. 

2.  To  request  M.  Willcms  to  inoculate  them. 

3.  Only  to  admit  as  preserved  those,  in  which  that  physician  should  have  recognized  the  specific  inflammation  caused 
by  a  productive  inoculation,  and  which  he  should  have  pronounced  to  he  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  immunity. 

4.  To  have,  the  beasts  cohabit  with  animals  alllicted  with  exudative  plenropneumonia,  at  the  same  time  placing 
some  inoculated  animals  in  identical  conditions. 

A  first  batch  of  eight  cows  and  heifers  of  Ardennes  breed,  selected  in  localities  free  from  exudative  plenropnenmo - 
nia,  arrived  at  the  veterinary  school.  M.  Willems  inoculated  them  on  the  16th  of  August;  on  the  llth  of  September, 
those,  numbered  1,  2,  3,  5,  fi,  and  8  were  examined  by  M.  Willems,  who  declared  that  the  inoculation  had  succeeded  in 
those  beasts. 

On  the  same  day  he  inoculated  eight  other  beasts  purchased  by  M.  Windelincx,  on  account  of  the  commission,  at 
the  fair  of  Tirlemont.  Wo  cannot  affirm  that  they  were,  like  the  preceding,  from  a  locality  free  from  plcuropiieumonia  ; 
we  gained,  however,  by  a  rigorous  and  repeated  examination,  the  certainty  that  the  thoracic  organs  were  intact.  At 
the  same  sitting,  M.  Willems  rciuoculatcd  the  two  Ardennes  cows  numbered  4  and?. 

All  showing  themselves  still  refractory  on  the  29th  of  September,  M.  Willems  was  apprised  of  it  ;  the  letter  was 
unanswered. 

On  the  10th  of  October  an  ox — that  marked  No.  2 — of  the  herd  that  came  from  Tirlemont,  exhibited  a  swelling  at 
the  end  of  the  tail.  That  portion  of  the,  caudal  appendage,  being  seized  with  dry  mortification,  was  eliminated. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  51 

On  the  18th  October  tliroo  members  of  the  commission  proceeded  to  a  fresh  inoculation.  They  operated  npou  the 
Nos.  1,  3,  4,  5,  7,  and  8,  from  Tirlemont,  and  upon  tho  Ardennes  cow  No.  4. 

The  No.  7  of  the  latter  brood  and  the  No.  G  of  the  former  were  reserved. 

Two  of  tho  Ardennes  cows,  Nos.  5  and  6,  which  were  successfully  inoculated,  having  been  isolated  in  a  stable,  cohab 
ited  from  the  24th  of  September  with  pneumonic  beasts.  When  it  was  certain  that  the  operation  had  had  a  negative 
result  upon  the  Ardennes  cow  No.  7,  and  after  the  cicatrization  of  tho  puncture,  tho  sumo  locality  was  assigned  to  it, 
on  the  1st  of  October,  for  abode. 

The  ox  No.  2,  from  Tirlemont,  entered  there  on  the  23d  of  October,  and  the  heifer  No.  fi  on  tho  25th  of  tho  same  month, 

A  third  inoculation,  performed  on  the  18th  of  November  upon  tho  beasts  from  Tirlemont,  Nos.  1,  3,  4,  5,  7,  and  8. 
was  not  more  efficacious  than  the  preceding. 

From  the  24th  of  September,  the  date  of  tho  experiment,  there  has  only  occurred  a  first  space  of  one  day,  and  a  second 
of  eight,  during  which  the  stable  has  not  contained  pneumonic  beasts ;  the  number  of  the  cattle  has  varied  from  one  to 
three.  Up  to  this  day  the  three  inoculated  beasts,  and  this  two  upon  which  the  inoculation  was  unsuccessful,  have 
experienced  110  attack  from  the  cohabitation  with  infected  animals. 

Two  aged  cows,  inoculated  by  M.  Willems,  at  Hasselt,  entered  the  same  locality  on  the  15th  of  November. 

On  the  28th  ot  September,  two  of  the  Ardennes  boasts,  Nos.  3  and  8,  were  dispatched  to  Tirlemont  to  bo  placed  in 
infected  stables  there,  by  the  care  and  under  the  superintendence  of  M.  \Vindelincx. 

A  third  experiment,  intrusted  to  M.  Dele,  has  been  organized  at  Deurno,  in  the  province  of  Antwerp.  The  superior 
of  tho  Abbey  of  La  Trappo  has  been  pleased  to  place  at  tho  disposal  of  the  commission,  for  this  purpose,  two  heifers 
belonging  to  the  community,  and  which  were  inoculated  with  the  least  equivocal  success  on  the  27th  of  May,  1852. 

On  the  30th  of  October,  the  Ardennes  beasts  Nos.  1,  2,  and  4  were  conducted  to  Huy,  where  a  fourth  experiment  is 
being  carried  out  under  the  superintendence  of  JIM.  Marcops  and  Giic'rin. 

Not  one  of  tho  animals  inoculated,  successfully  or  unsuccessfully,  has  contracted  exudative  pleuropncumonia. 

While  these  experiments  were  going  on,  -fifty-four  veterinary  surgeons,  including  Dr. 
Willems,  inoculated  five  thousand  three  hundred  and  one  head  of  cattle.  They  con 
sisted  in — 

Beasts  fattening - 2,  732 

Lean  oxen  or  milch  cows 2,  189 

Calves  and  young  cattle < 380 

Total.  5,301 


Beasts  living  in  healthy  stables 2,  330 

Beasts  living  in  infected  stables 2,  971 

Total •••  5,301 

Beasts  successfully  inoculated 4>  oz4 

In  healthy  stables 2'  03° 

2  294 

In  infected  stables ' 


Total 


Eighty-six,  including  eleven  beasts  inoculated  in  the  dewlap,  died  from  the  effects 
of  the  inoculation. 

Seventy-four  lost  the  tail  up  to  the  root. 

Three  hundred  and  four  lost  it  in  part. 

Seventy-three  contracted  exudative  pleuropneumonia  after  having  been  success 

inoculated. 

After  careful  examination,  it  resulted  that  fifty-five  cases  of  exudative  pleuropneumo 
nia,  well  attested,  occurred  upon  beasts  inoculated  with  unequivocal  success.  The  space  of 
time  which  elapsed  with  these  animals  between  the  inoculation  and  the  ^  first  appearance 
of  the  pneumonia  symptoms  varies  from  seventeen  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  days. 


52  DEPAKTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

After  an  elaborate  analysis  of  cases  in  which  the  inoculation  seems  to  have  been 
effectual,  of  others  in  which  the  operation  and  immunity  seemed  to  be  coincidences,  and, 
lastly,  of  those  in  which  it  was  not  preservative,  the  commission  concludes  : 

1.  That  the  inoculation  with  the  liquid  extracted  from  a  lung  hepatizcd  in  consequence  of  exudative  plenropneu- 
inonia  is  not  an  absolute  preservative  against  that  disease. 

2.  That  the  phenomena  succeeding  the  inoculation  may  occur  several  times  upon  the  same  animal,  whether  it  has 
or  has  not  been  aflected  with  exudative  pleuropm'umonia,  and  that  the  two  aft'ections  may  go  on  simultaneously  in  one 
and  the  same  individual ;  considerable  derangements  appear  at  the  inoculated  part,  while  the  morbid  action  of  the  lungs 
progresses  toward  a  fatal  termination. 

As  to  the  point  whether  inoculation  really  possesses  a  preservative  virtue,  and,  in  -that  case,  in  what  proportion 
and  for  what  duration  it  maintains  the  immunity  in  the  animals  that  have  undergone  it,  this  question  can  bo  resolved 
only  by  ulterior  researches. 

A  summary  of  inoculations  performed  and  results  obtained  is  appended  in  a  tabular 
form  at  the  close  of  the  report. 

We  now  come  to  the  experiments  of  the  French  commission,  and  it  must  not  be  for 
gotten  that,  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  the  transmission  of  the  lung  plague  by  con 
tact,  this  commission  had  resorted  to  inoculation  independently  of  any  suggestions  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  Willems. 

The  general  resumd,  ably  set  forth  by  Professor  Bouley,  is  regarded  up  to  the  present 
day  as  having  done  much  to  diffuse  a  rational  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  inoculation,  and  the 
experiments  were  conducted  with  great  care  and  skill. 

Experiments  were  instituted  by  the  commission— 

First.  To  ascertain  whether  pleuropneumonia  is  susceptible  of  being  transmitted  to 
healthy  animals  by  the  inoculation  of  blood,  saliva,  nasal  discharge,  and  excrementitious 
matters  from  animals  affected  with  the  disease. 

Second.  Have  animals  thus  inoculated  enjoyed  any  immunity  against  the  contagious 
influence  of  the  lung  plague  ? 

Third.  Is  pleuropneumonia  capable  of  being  transmitted,  in  all  its  forms  and  char 
acteristic  symptoms,  to  healthy  cattle  by  the  inoculation  of  the  liquid  extracted  from  the 
lungs  of  a  sick  animal  ? 

Fourth.  In  the  case  where  inoculation  of  this  liquid  does  not  determine  on  healthy 
animals  an  exact  repetition  of  the  form  and  symptoms  of  the  original  disease,  what  are 
the  local  or  general  phenomena  which  result  ?  In  what  proportion  and  to  what  extent  do 
these  characters,  more  or  less  severe,  transmit  themselves  ?  How  many  animals  die  after 
inoculation?  How  many  recover  their  health  after  having  been  subjected  to  this  test, 
and  under  what  conditions  ? 

Fifth.  Do  the  animals  subjected  to  this  proof  of  inoculation  with  pulmonary  liquid 
acquire  the  power  of  resisting  the  contagion  of  pleuropneumonia? 

The  experiments  made  to  solve  the  question  whether  pleuropneumonia  is  contagious 
by  the  inoculation  of  the  blood,  saliva,  nasal  mucus,  &c.,  having  been  performed  only  on 
six  animals,  the  commission  has  not  deemed  them  sufficient  in  number  to  form  the  basis  of 
any  conclusion.  Nevertheless,  it  was  thought  right  to  mention  that  the  two  cows  inocu 
lated  with  the  nasal  discharge,  and  subjected  to  the  proof  of  contagion  by  cohabitation, 
have  not  been  affected  with  pleuropneumonia. 

Experiments  by  inoculating  the  liquid  from  the  lungs  of  sick  cattle  have  been  per 
formed  on  fifty-four  healthy  animals,  and  under  conditions  which  indicated  that  these  ani 
mals  had  never  previously  contracted  the  disease.  Of  these  fifty-four  subjects  inoculated 


THE  LU^G  TLAGUE.  53 

none  have  shown  symptoms  of  pleuropneumonia  as  the  result  of  inoculation.  On  twenty- 
three  the  effects  of  inoculation  have  only  been  indicated  by  a  slight  local  and  well-circum 
scribed  inflammation.  On  twenty-one  the  inflammation  has  been  very  severe,  very  exten 
sive,  and  complicated  by  gangrenous  phenomena  which  have  led  to  the  death  of  six  subjects. 
Therefore  the  number  of  animals  in  which  inoculation  has  been  benignant  has  amounted 
to  61.11  per  cent.;  the  proportion  of  those  having  gangrene  after  the  operation,  which 
resulted  in  the  loss  of  a  portion  of  the  tail,  was  27.77  per  cent. ;  lastly,  the  deaths  attained 
11.11  per  cent.  Thus  88.88  per  cent,  of  the  inoculated  animals  recovered,  and  11.11  per 
cent.  died. 

Of  the  forty-eight  subjects  which  came  out  of  the  inoculation  safe  and  healthy,  two 
died  of  accidents  not  induced  by  the  operation,  and  thirty-four  were  exposed  for  a  period 
of  five  or  six  months  to  the  direct  influence  of  contagion  by  cohabitation  with  twenty-four 
subjects  that  had  not  been  inoculated,  and  which  served  as  a  means  of  comparison. 

Twelve  inoculated  animals  which  had  been  placed  in  separate  stables  to  serve  for 
ulterior  experiments  were  not  exposed  to  the  direct  contact  of  such  cattle,  but  were  looked 
after  by  the  same  person  who  had  charge  of  the  sick  animals. 

Only  one  of  the  forty-six  animals  inoculated,  viz.,  about  two  per  cent.,  became  affected 
with  pleuropneumonia,  whereas  of  the  twenty-four  non-inoculated  animals  fourteen,  or 
fifty-eight  per  cent.,  suffered. 

Prom  these  experiments  the  commission  concludes — 

1.  The  inoculation  of  the  liquid  extracted  from  the  lungs  of  an  animal  affected  with 
pleuropneumonia  does  not  transmit  to  healthy  animals  of  the  same  species  the  same  disease — 
at  all  events,  so  far  as  its  seat  is  concerned. 

2.  The  appreciable  phenomena  which  follow  the  inoculation  are  those  of  a  local  inflam 
mation,  which  is  circumscribed  and  slight,  on  a  certain  number  of  the  animals  inoculated; 
extensive  and  diffuse,  with  general  reaction  proportioned  to  the  local  disease,  and  compli 
cated  by  gangrenous  accidents,  on  another  number  of  the  inoculated  animals,  so  that  even 
death  may  result. 

3.  The  inoculation  of  the  liquid  from  the  lungs  of  an  animal  affected  with  pleuropneu 
monia  exerts  a  preservative  influence,  and  invests  the  economy  of  the  larger  number  of 
animals  subjected  to  its  influence  with  an  immunity  which  protects  them  from  the  conta 
gion  of  this  malady  during  a  period  which  has  yet  to  be  determined,  but  which  the  experi 
ments  quoted  indicate,  at  all  events,  not  to  be  less  than  six  months. 

Although,  from  the  experiments  of  the  commission,  the  losses  per  cent,  among  the 
animals  inoculated  were  greater  than  the  losses  by  the  disease  communicated  by  cohabita 
tion,  they  ascribed  this  partly  to  the  imperfect  means  adopted  in  inoculating,  and  they  do 
not  overlook  the  great  deterioration  of  the  animals  which  did  not  die  after  suffering  from 
the  natural  disorder.  They  recommended  further  trials,  and  that  the  practice  should  be 
encouraged. 

A  mixed  commission  of  the  Central  Society  of  Medicine  and  the  Agricultural  Committee 
of  Lille  instituted  experiments  on  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-five  animals,  to  de 
termine  the  comparative  effects  of  inoculation  of  the  pulmonary  liquid  of  pleuropneumonia 
and  of  septic  matters.  The  inoculations  with  virus  amounted  to  one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  sixteen  ;  of  these  nine  hundred  and  seventy-eight  succeeded,  and  two  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  showed  no  visible  effects.  One  hundred  and  seventy-nine  animals,  or  14.72 


54  DBPAETMENT  OF  AGEICULTUEB. 

per  cent.,  lost  a  part  of  the  tail  ;  seventeen,  or  1.39  per  cent.,  died  ;  lastly,  twenty-nine 
animals,  or  2.38  per  cent.,  were  seized  with  pleuropneumonia,  and  of  these  eight  succumbed. 
Twenty-nine  head  of  cattle  were  inoculated  with  decomposing  matter,  and  only  two  with 
out  local  effect  resulting.  Ten  lost  a  portion  of  the  tail,  viz.,  34  per  cent.  Of  these  ani 
mals  three  caught  pleuropneumonia,  and  one  of  these  died.  The  Lille  committee  regarded 
the  process  and  results  of  inoculation  as  involved  in  doubts  and  uncertainties. 

In  England  attention  was  directed  to  inoculation  by  consuls  from  abroad,  and  Pro 
fessors  Simonds  and  Morton  were  commissioned  to  proceed  to  Belgium  to  investigate  the 
matter,  and  then  to  institute  experiments  at  home.  The  result  obtained,  after  much  too 
limited  observation,  was  pronounced  against  the  practice.  This  sufficed  to  prevent  the 
continuance  of  the  operation  among  veterinarians,  and  the  London  cow-feeders  alone 
resorted  to  the  plan  in  a  partial  and  very  imperfect  manner. 

I  witnessed  many  bad  results  in  1854  and  1855,  and  a  case  which  came  under  my 
observation  on  the  4th  of  May,  1856,  in  which  putrid  matter  that  had  been  kept  in  an  ink- 
bottle  for  a  long  time  was  used,  led  me  to  pronounce  a  somewhat  cautious  but  adverse 
opinion  in  the  Highland  Society's  transactions  for  that  year. 

My  efforts  were  afterward  directed  to  an  exposure  of  the  evils  of  indiscriminate  sale 
of  healthy  and  sick  cattle  in  public  markets,  and  I  insisted  on  the  slaughter  and  isolation  of 
sick  and  infected  animals.  The  little  support  I  received  at  home  led  me,  in  1863,  to  call 
together  the  first  international  veterinary  congress,  which  was  held  in  Hamburg,  and  there  I 
met  veterinarians  from  all  parts  of  Europe  who  had  steadily  persevered  in  the  practice  of 
inoculation,  and  could  furnish  me  with  reliable  data.  It  is  impossible,  and,  indeed,  it  would 
be  superfluous,  to  give  a  detailed  account  of  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
cases  which  have  led  to  the  almost  universal  opinion  that  inoculation  is  the  best  means  in 
the  majority  of  instances  to  check  the  ravages  of  pleuropneumonia.  The  observations 
have  been  made  in  all  countries  where  pleuropneumonia  has  appeared,  though  opposition 
to  the  practice  is  scarcely  overcome  to  the  extent  that  is  desirable. 

The  efforts  of  Professor  Verheyen  in  Belgium,  and  his  many  attacks  on  Dr.  Willems's 
method,  approved  as  they  have  been  by  some  in  that  country,  only  illustrate  once  more 
the  adage  that  a  man  is  not  a  prophet  in  his  own  country.  But  Professor  Thiervene,  who 
was  one  of  the  original  Belgian  commissioners,  and  at  first  among  the  decided  skeptics, 
delivered  an  address  before  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine  in  Brussels,  in  1866,  in  reply 
to  one  by  M.  Boens,  who  had  attacked  the  practice  of  inoculation,  in  which  he  vindicates 
Dr.  Willems's  position.  He  indorses  Professor  Saint  Cyr's  remarks  on  the  demonstration 
of  a  preservative  influence  by  the  most  accurate  and  extensive  experiments,  and  shows 
that  of  the  well-informed  in  Belgium,  who  are  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  con 
tagious  pleuropneumonia,  none  now  doubt  that  inoculation  is  a  safe  and  certain  pre 
ventive. 

Medical  men,  no  less  than  veterinarians,  have  a  duty  to  perform  in  relation  to  this 
subject.  Boards  of  health  in  cities  and  country  districts  should  take  up  the  subject  in  con 
nection  with  the  sale  of  the  meat  and  milk  of  animals  affected  with  pleuropneumonia.  His 
tory  shows  that  in  those  countries,  such  as  England,  where  the  sale  of  the  produce  of  these 
animals  has  been  most  unrestricted,  the  traffic  in  such  cattle  has  been  so  great  as  to  cause 
the  most  severe  losses  by  the  disease,  and  without  intermission. 

An  objection  to  inoculation,  which  weighs  in  the  case  of  human  and  ovine  small-pox 
aS  well  as  rinderpest,  is  that  the  inoculated  disease  is  contagious,  that  the  cohabitation  of 


THE  LUXG  PLAGUE.  55 

healthy  with  inoculated  animals  may  lead  to  extensions  of  the  infection,  and  that 
the  foci  whence  the  disease  spreads  are  always  on  the  increase.  Such  objections  can 
not  weigh  against  the  inoculation  for  the  lung  plague,  as  the  inoculated  malady  is  not  com 
municated  except  by  reinoculation.  My  observations  on  this  point  are  very  numerous,  and 
I  do  not  know  of  a  single  instance  recorded,  during  the  seventeen  years  that  inoculation 
has  been  extensively  practiced,  in  which  contagion  from  inoculated  animals  has  been 
witnessed. 

Another  objection  which  has  led,  of  late  years,  to  the  practice  being  checked  among 
the  cow-feeders  of  Brooklyn,  is  the  sloughing  of  the  tail  and  the  animals  splashing  blood 
and  matter  from  their  sore  tails  into  the  milk-cans.  All  this  arises  from  the  operation 
being  performed  by  persons  who  know  nothing  of  the  precautions  to  be  used,  and  especially 
of  the  proper  selection  and  preservation  of  the  virus.  Accidents  will  happen;  but  out  of 
nearly  two  thousand  inoculations  I  have  had  a  loss  of  less  than  one  per  cent,  by  death,  and 
under  five  per  cent,  of  the  tails  have  lost  their  tips.  This  includes  my  earlier  trials,  and 
the  results  would  be  more  favorable  if  I  excluded  them  from  my  calculations. 

PRECAUTIONS. 

The  prevention  of  pleuropneumonia  by  inoculation  demands,  therefore,  special  atten 
tion,  first,  to  the  condition  of  herds  operated  on;  second,  selection  of  proper  virus;  third, 
the  preservation  of  that  virus  from  decomposition ;  fourth,  the  proper  performance  of  the 
operation. 

First.  As  to  the  condition  of  stock,  it  may  be  said  that  at  any  season  and  under  any 
system  of  management,  whether  cattle  are  being  grazed,  stall-fed,  used  for  breeding  pur 
poses,  or  fattening  for  the  butcher's  stall,  inoculation  may  be  resorted  to.  It  should  be 
practiced  as  soon  as  there  is  reason  to  believe  a  herd  has  been  in  danger  of  infection  or 
actually  infected.  The  first  case  of  well-marked  lung  plague  on  a  farm  or  in  a  dairy  shed 
should  be  the  starting  point  for  careful  isolation,  and  the  inoculation  of  all  apparently 
healthy  animals.  The  disease  rarely  manifests  all  its  virulence  until  the  third  month  after 
the  introduction  of  a  sick  animal  among  a  lot  of  cattle,  but  the  longer  the  inoculation  is 
delayed  the  more  likely  is  it  that  the  operation  will  be  performed  on  animals  during  the 
stage  of  invasion  of  the  natural  disease,  and  the  result  is  a  loss  which  is  sometimes  ascribed 
to  the  inefficacy  of  the  preventive.  In  cities  where  the  lung  plague  has  been  rife  for  any 
length  of  time,  and  it  is  necessary  to  make  frequent  purchases,  although  a  great  deal  in 
the  way  of  prevention  may  be  effected  by  judicious  purchases  of  animals  in  healthy  dis 
tricts,  it  is  best  to  resort  regularly  to  inoculation.  Dairymen  should  strive  to  buy  more 
cows  at  a  time,  and  at  regular  intervals,  instead  of  picking  up  a  chance  bargain  or  making 
it  a  rule  to  go  to  the  market  weekly,  as  has  been  the  custom  in  both  England  and 
America.  It  matters  not  if  the  cow  is  about  to  calve  or  has  just  calved;  nothing  should 
induce  the  dairyman  or  the  farmer  in  an  infected  district  .to  run  a  risk.  It  is  desirable  to 
keep  animals  clean  and  well  littered  on  straw  or  sawdust,  to  prevent  the  tails  that  have 
been  operated  on  from  coming  in  contact  with  excrement  and  urine,  which  may  poison 
the  wound  with  decomposing  matter. 

Second.  The  selection  of  proper  virus  should  be  intrusted  to  veterinarians,  who 
can  detect  the  various  stages  of  the  disease.  It  is  during  the  first  stage  of  a 
mild  case  that  the  interlobular  tissue  of  the  lung  is  found  distended  with  a  yellow 


56  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

gelatinous  scrum,  which  is  fluid  so  long  as  the  lungs  are  hot,  and  is  not  readily  contami 
nated  by  other  inflammatory  products  and  blood.  When  a  large  portion  of  lung  has  been, 
so  far  consolidated  as  to  present  an  almost  uniform  dark  red  or  purplish  color,  it  should  be 
discarded,  and  especially  in  cases  where  a  piece  of  the  organ  has  become  gangrenous  and 
detached,  or  where  liquid  in  the  cavity  of  the  chest  and  around  the  lungs  is  decidedly 
fetid.  Microscopic  examination  will  indicate,  by  the  presence  of  movable  rods  and  float 
ing  molecules,  the  putrefactive  changes,  and  that  should  cause  us  to  discard  any  such 
source  of  virus.  A  clear  pleural  fluid  is  often  very  useful  for  preservation,  but  perhaps 
greater  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  the  exudation  of  a  piece  of  lung  in  the  first  stage  of 
the  malady.  The  lung  is  placed  on  a  tolerably  wide  strainer,  or  bits  of  wood,  over  a  clean, 
stoneware,  glass,  or  porcelain  dish  or  bowl ;  it  is  cut  in  various  directions,  and  a  stout  piece 
of  cloth  or  flannel  is  placed  over  the  whole  to  confine  the  heat  and  prevent  dust  falling  on 
the  lung  or  liquid.  It  is  better  to  place  the  dish  or  bowl  over  a  warm  water  or  sand  bath 
at  100°,  so  as  to  prevent  gelatinization.  In  a  short  time,  according  to  the  condition  and 
quantity  of  lung,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  clear  yellow-colored  liquid  is  obtained.  Some 
times  blood  accidentally  tinges  the  material,  and  this  is  not  necessarily  a  disadvantage. 

The  old  plan  of  keeping  pieces  of  lung  to  inoculate  with,  and  bottling  up  anything 
and  everything  to  secure  a  fetid  compound,  to  be  kept  for  months,  must  be  regarded 
as  the  most  certain  means  to  insure  accidents  as  the  results  of  inoculation. 

Third.  The  preservation  of  the  virus  for  periodic  inoculations  has  certainly  been  a 
desideratum.  Had  farmers  and  dairymen  had  the  facilities  for  procuring  material  which 
could  be  used  with  safety  in  their  stock,  they  would  long  since  have  tried  a  method  that, 
even  when  badly  followed,  is  beneficial  to  them.  Dr.  Sticker,  of  Cologne,  has  preserved 
the  virus  in  hermetically-closed  tubes  containing  from  one  to  two  drachms.  One  of  these 
tubes  is  emptied  into  a  small  glass,  and  one  to  two  parts  of  rain  water  added.  This  is  not 
desirable.  A  plan  has  occurred  to  me  of  utilizing  the  tubes  referred  to  in  the  report  of 
Drs.  Billings  and  Curtis,  which  I  am  sure  will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  case.  Tubes 
about  four  inches  in  length,  three-eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  tapering  at  either 
end,  are  sealed  at  one  end  in  a  blow-pipe  flame,  and  then  heated  throughout  their  length 
to  redness.  The  operation  is  concluded  by  closing  the  other  end  in  the  same  way.  The 
air  in  the  tube  is  rarefied,  all  germs  of  decay  destroyed,  and  there  is  no  difficulty  in  further 
manipulations.  When  a  proper  quantity  of  liquid  is  obtained  one  point  of  the  tube  is 
passed  into  it,  the  tip  broken  off,  and  the  virus  is  sucked  in  to  fill  the  vacuum.  A  spirit 
lamp  is  held  near  the  liquid,  and  the  point  of  the  tube  transferred  from  this  to  the  flame. 
By  the  aid  of  a  blow-pipe  the  sealing  is  effected,  and  thus  protected  the  virus  will  keep 
for  months.  The  test  for  discarding  tubes  thus  prepared  is  a  microscopical  one,  and  con 
sists  in  the  detection  of  bacteria  or  evidences  of  putrefaction  in  the  liquid. 

Fourth.  The  inoculation  of  cattle  is  most  safely  practiced  on  the  tip  of  the  tail.  All 
parts  that  are  loose,  and  from  which  any  extensive  exudation  may  spread  over  the  con 
nective  tissue  beneath  the  skin,  must  be  avoided.  The  lips,  dewlap,  and  root  of  the  tail 
have  proved  dangerous  localities.  When  the  operation  is  properly  and  delicately  per 
formed  the  tip  of  the  ear  is  said  to  be  safe,  but,  on  the  whole,  the  end  of  the  tail  is  found, 
after  long  experience,  to  be  the  best. 

Dairymen  have  frequently  resorted  to  the  plan  of  making  an  incision  of  an  inch  or 
two  in  length,  inserting  in  the  part  a  piece  of  lung,  and  bandaging  ;  swelling,  inflamma- 


THE  LUXG  PLAGUE.  57 

tion,  sloughing  of  the  tail,  and  secondary  deposits  in  the  lymphatic  glands  and  other  parts 
of  the  organs,  have  frequently  resulted  from  this  rude  practice. 

Dr.  Willems  first  described  his  mode  of  inoculation  as  follows:  "I  take  the  liquid 
pressed  from  an  animal  recently  slaughtered,  or  of  one  that  has  died  of  the  disease ;  I 
plunge  into  it  a  kind  of  large  lancet  ;  then  I  make  two  or  three  punctures  at  the  lower 
extremity  of  the  tail  of  the  animal  that  I  wish  to  preserve  from  the  disease  ;  a  single  drop 
of  the  liquid  is  sufficient  to  'make  the  inoculation." 

At  one  time  Dr.  Willems  adopted  the  plan  of  making  two  punctures,  one  on  the  upper 
part  and  the  other  on  the  lower  surface  of  the  tip  of  the  tail,  and  both  about  the  same  dis 
tance  from  the  extreme  end  of  the  organ.  He  found  that  this  frequently  led  to  a  fusion 
of  the  exudation  commencing  around  each  puncture,  and  the  result  was  the  sloughing  of 
the  tail.  He  therefore  resorted  to  the  punctures  disposed  vertically  in  a  line  with  the  tail, 
and  about  three  inches  from  each  other.  By  this  means  the  exudations  commencing  at 
the  two  spots  had  no  tendency  to  coalesce  and  lead  to  untoward  results. 

Various  instruments  have  been  suggested  for  the  operation.  Dr.  Sticker  devised  a 
hollow  stylet,  with  a  sharp,  diamond-shaped  point.  The  stylet  is  armed  with  a  little 
india-rubber  tube,  and  this  passed  into  a  wooden  handle,  with  a  spring,  whereby  the  flex 
ible  tube  may  be  squeezed  for  the  expulsion  of  air,  and  by  placing  the  point  of  the  instru 
ment  in  the  prepared  liquid,  sufficient  is  sucked  in  for  an  inoculation.  I  have  used  this 
-instrument  as  follows  : 

The  end  of  the  tail  being  firmly  held  in  the  left  hand,  the  point  of  the  instrument  is 
plunged  with  the  right  hand  superficially  into  the  skin  of  the  tip  of  the  tail,  and  directed 
from  before  backwards,  so  that  any  effort  to  withdraw  the  tail  would  only  hasten  the  op 
eration.  I  can  testify  from  practice  to  the  simplicity  and  efficacy  of  Dr.  Sticker's  instru 
ment  as  used  by  me.  I  have  preferred  this  plan  of  operating  to  Dr.  Sticker's  method, 
which  consists  in  charging  his  instrument,  holding  the  tail  firmly,  and  then  pushing  the 
stylet  about  one  inch  forward  into  the  tail,  and  by  a  simultaneous  pressure  upon  the  key, 
and  a  slight  winding  motion,  the  virus  is  deposited  beneath  the  skin  and  in  the  sub 
stance  of  the  organ.  Dr.  Sticker  proposed  making  a  channel  with  the  instrument — a 
channel  downward,  from  which  exudation  might  flow  ;  but  this  is  of  no  avail  if  septic 
matter  is  used,  and  untoward  symptoms  result.  The  result  of  Dr.  Sticker's  operation, 
according  to  his  description,  is  a  local  swelling  occurring  about  the  eighth  or  ninth  day, 
and  which  increases  the  tail  from  three  to  four  lines  in  diameter,  and  extends  over  a  length 
of  one  and  a  half  to  two  inches  ;  incisions  have  not  been  necessary  after  the  operation,  and 
the  tails  have  not  mortified.  The  inoculated  cattle  do  not  lose  their  appetites,  and  the 
flow  of  milk  is  not  diminished.  Dr.  Sticker  considers  it  important  that  the  virus  should 
be  deposited  in  the  connective  tissue  beneath  the  skin  and  not  deep  in  the  muscles  of 
the  tail. 

With  the  tubes  proposed  to  preserve  the  liquid  a  very  simple  plan  consists  in  using 
a  small  bistoury  or  lancet,  scarifying  the  upper  surface  of  the  tail  an  inch  or  so  from  the 
end,  and  from  this  part  the  hair  may  be  clipped  with  a  pair  of  scissors  ;  the  scarification 
must  be  superficial,  and  blood  should  not  be  drawn  if  possible  ;  the  tube  is  taken  and  both 
ends  broken  off;  a  little  rubber  ball  or  tube  is  fixed  onto  one  end,  and,  by  pressing  this,  a 
few  drops  of  the  liquid  are  dropped  in  the  scarification.  This  is  the  safest  method,  as  there  is 
no  doubt  of  the  virus  being  applied  to  an  absorbent  surface,  and  the  method  of  collection 
8 


58  DEPAETMEXT  OF  AGEICULTURE. 

affords  a  guarantee  of  its  purity ;  the  tubes  are  thus  kept  hermetically  sealed  till  needed, 
and,  from  the  way  they  are  used,  there  is  no  loss  of  material. 

The  results  of  successful  inoculation  are  somewhat  various ;  by  some  methods  the 
swelling  is  considerable  and  many  tails  slough.  It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  cows  do 
not  often  fail  to  enjoy  immunity  from  the  disease  after  sloughing  of  the  organ ;  it  might, 
a  priori,  have  been  supposed  that  the  acute  inflammation  and  gangrene  would  have  pre 
vented  the  specific  action  of  the  virus  on  the  system,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
occasionally  this  does  occur,  as  I  have  seen  more  than  one  case  of  pleuropneumonia  in  cows 
that  had  lost  their  tail  after  inoculation. 

Under  favorable  circumstances  a  slight  heat  and  tumefaction  occur  around  the  punc 
ture,  at  a  period  varying  from  a  week  to  even  sixty  days.  Commonly  from  the  ninth  to 
the  fifteenth  day  the  local  eruption  is  visible,  and,  if  at  all  marked,  is  attended  with  a  little 
fever ;  a  slight  shiver,  restlessness  and  some  loss  of  appetite,  slightly  checked  secretion  of 
milk,  and  constipation  may  be  noticed.  I  have  repeatedly  inoculated  all  the  cows  in  a 
dairy,  and  the  owner  has  not  sustained  the  slightest  loss  or  inconvenience  from  cows  fail 
ing  in  their  milk  ;  indeed,  this  is  the  rule. 

No  pustule,  no  suppuration,  forms ;  untoward  results  consist  in  the  excessive  local 
swelling,  or,  if  putrid  matter  has  been  used,  in  secondary  deposits  at  the  root  of  the  tail, 
around  the  anus  and  other  parts.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  I  ever  witnessed  was 
one  in  which,  on  the  seventeenth  day,  after  a  carefully  performed  inoculation,  both  fore 
legs  and  brisket  swelled  up  enormously,  and  the  animal  suffered  intensely  from  fever  and 
died  on  the  fourth  day. 

As  a  rule,  no  after-treatment  is  necessary,  the  results  being  so  slight  that  they  even 
escape  observation  altogether.  But,  when  excessive  swellings  occur,  it  is  best  to  use  cold 
applications,  and  nothing  is  better  than  a  steady  stream  of  cold  water  on  the  part  at  short 
intervals.  Incisions  are  not  always  desirable,  but,  where  it  is  deemed  advisable  to  relieve 
great  tension,  they  must  be  deep  and  free ;  the  resulting  wound  must  be  washed  with  a 
solution  of  sesquichloride  of  iron  or  chloride  of  zinc  of  the  strength  of  four  grains  to  the 
ounce  of  water.  When  the  animal  has  much  fever  and  is  costive,  a  saline  purge,  such  as 
a  pound  of  Epsom  salts,  affords  relief. 

JOAN  GAMGEE,  M.  D. 

lion.  HORACE  CAPRON, 

Commissioner  of  A  griculture. 


EXTERNAL   SURFACE    OF  LUNG 
showing  the  effusion  on  the  pleural  Surface   in  pleuro    pneumonia 


PORTION  OF  LUNG 
showing  the   appearance  in  :!K-  Pleurr    pneu 


jf  Cattle 


A  I  In. MI*  I '»  'hrmni'Mh    ll.ijlinio 


PORTION  OF  LUNG 

From  a   Cow   dead  of   Pleura    pneumonia 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE. 


59 


APPENDIX  No.  1. 

Statement  of  losses  by  lung  plague  in  cattle  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  vicinity,  collected  for  Pro 
fessor  Gamgee  by  Mr.  George  Reid,  Inrjleside  farm,  Washington.  J>.  C. 


Number. 

No.  of  cattle  kept. 

No.  lost  since  commence 
ment  of  disease. 

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Total                

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17 

(JO 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


APPENDIX  No.  2. 

TABLE  OF  DUTCH  EXPERIMENTS. 
FIKST  SKKIKS. 
EXUDATIVE  n.EUUOPXEUMOXIA. 
Summary  of  the  inoculations  performed  and  the  reitultn  obtained. 

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S 

REPORT  OF  DR.  J.  J.  WOODWARD,  U.  S.  A., 

ON 

THE  PATHOLOGICAL  ANATOMY  AND  HISTOLOGY  OF  THE  RESPIRATORY 
ORGANS  IN  THE  PLEUROPNEUMONIA  OF  CATTLE. 


WAR  DEPARTMENT,  SURGEON  GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

Washington,  June  16,  1870. 

SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  report  on  the  Pathological  Anatomy 
and  Histology  of  the  Respiratory  Organs  in  the  Pleuropneumonia  of  Cattle,  prepared,  in 
accordance  with  your  request,  by  Brevet  Lieutenant  Colonel  J.  J.  Woodward,  Assistant 
Surgeon  United  States  Army. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  K.  BARNES, 

/Surgeon  General. 
Hon.  HORACE  CAPRON, 

Commissioner  of  Agriculture,   Washington,  D.  C. 


ARMY  MEDICAL  MUSEUM, 

Washington,  D.  C  ,  June  15,  1870. 

GENERAL:  During  the  summer  of  1869  the  lungs  of  several  cows,  dead  of  epidemic 
pleuropneumonia,  were  brought  to  the  Army  Medical  Museum  by  Professor  John  Gamgee, 
then  engaged  in  preparing  a  report  for  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  on  certain  of  the 
diseases  of  the  cattle  of  the  United  States;  and,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
Commissioner,  I  undertook  the  histological  investigation  of  the  specimens.  I  examined 
them  in  the  fresh  condition,  and  superintended  the  preparation  of  a  number  of  permanently 
mounted  sections  for  microscopical  examination,  which  are  now  preserved  at  the  museum. 
(Microscopical  Section,  Nos.  2781  to  2819,  inclusive.)  These  sections  were  made,  under 
my  direction,  by  Dr.  E.  Schaeffer,  one  of  my  assistants,  and  have  served,  in  connection 
with  the  observations  I  made  on  the  fresh  specimens  at  the  time  of  their  arrival,  as  the 
basis  of  the  following  paper. 

My  attention  was  first  drawn  to  the  pleuropneumonia  of  cattle  in  the  fall  of  1860, 
by  Dr.  J.  Newton  Evans,  of  Hatboro',  Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania.  This  gentle 
man  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal  the  lungs  of  several  cattle  dead  of  the  disease  during 
an  epidemic  which  prevailed  near  Hatboro'  at  the  time.  I  have  since  had  various  oppor 
tunities  of  examining  the  thoracic  viscera  in  this  complaint,  and  during  the  year  1869, 
besides  the  specimens  furnished  by  Professor  Gamgee  dissected  at  the  museum,  the  body 
of  a  tame  deer  (Cervus  virgmianus)  which  had  died  suddenly  of  the  same  disorder,  and  in 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  05 

which  the  pathological  lesions  were  essentially  similar  to  those  which  I  had  observed  in 
cattle. 

The  appearances  presented  to  the  naked  eye  in  all  the  cases  which  I  had  occasion  to 
study  agreed  quite  well  with  the  excellent  account  given  by  Professor  F.  Weber,  of  Kiel, 
in  1854.*  I  did  not,  however,  have  any  opportunity  of  observing  the  separation  and 
encapsuling  of  isolated  lung  lobules  described  by  that  writer  as  occurring  in  chronic  cases. 
The  general  aspect  of  the  lesions  may  be  described  as  follows  : 

The  pleural  cavity  of  the  affected  side  contained  a  variable  quantity  of  clear, 
opalescent,  turbid,  or  even  grumous,  yellowish  serum,  and  the  parietal  as  well  as  the 
pulmonary  pleura  was  plastered  over,  to  a  variable  extent,  with  masses  of  opaque  whitish 
yellow,  or  greenish  yellow,  fatty-looking  lymph,  flakes  of  which  frequently  floated  in  the 
serum.  Not  unfrequently  both  sides  were  similarly  affected.  In  some  cases  the  pericar 
dium  contained  serum  of  the  same  character,  with  adherent  lymph  coating  its  inner 
surface  and  covering  the  heart.  The  adipose  tissue  about  the  pericardium  often  exhibited 
a  peculiar  transformation,  which  caused  its  appearance  to  the  naked  eye  to  approximate 
closely  to  that  of  the  adjacent  lymph  masses 

A  section  of  the  lung  most  generally  showed  its  apex  nearly  healthy ;  further  down 
the  parenchyma  was  congested  and  cedematous;  still  lower  the  connective  tissue  septa 
between  the  lung  lobules  were  progressively  thickened,  until  finally  they  were  converted 
into  whitish,  yellowish,  or  greenish  opaque  layers,  which  in  sections  of  the  organ  appeared 
to  map  out  the  congested  and  cedematous  lung  tissue  into  angular  territories,  readily 
recognized  as  lung  lobules.  Still  further  toward  the  diaphragm  the  lung  parenchyma 
between  the  opaque  yellowish  septa  exhibited  various  degrees  of  red  hepatization,  while 
in  the  most  inferior  portions  of  the  organ  the  lung  tissue,  having  passed  into  the  stage  of 
gray  hepatization,  could  not  readily  be  distinguished  by  the  naked  eye  from  the  tissue  of 
the  diseased  interlobular  septa,  and  the  surface  of  these  portions  of  the  section  appeared 
of  a  mottled  reddish  yellow  or  yellowish  gray  hue. 

An  examination  of  the  pleural  surface,  after  sections  of  the  lung  were  made, 
showed,  as  a  rule,  that  the  adherent  lymph  masses  on  the  pleura  pulmonalis  corresponded 
chiefly  to  those  portions  of  the  lung  which  were  more  or  less  completely  hepatized. 

Very  great  variation  in  the  extent  of  the  disease  was  noted  in  different  cases.  Some 
times  one  lung  only  was  affected,  sometimes  both.  Some  animals  died  before  any  portion 
of  the  lung  had  passed  into  the  stage  of  gray  hepatization;  others  survived  till  abscess 
formation,  or  even  gangrene  of  portions  of  the  lung  tissue  supervened.  Sometimes  at 
least  one  of  the  lungs  was  hepatized,  more  or  less  completely,  throughout  its  whole  extent, 
but  generally  the  upper  lobes  were  nearly  healthy,  or  at  most  had  not  progressed  beyond 
the  stage  of  congestion  or  oedema.  When  sections  of  the  diseased  lung  were  laid  on  a 
suitable  perforated  plate  considerable  quantities  of  bloody  serum  drained  from  them. 

The  peculiar  appearance  produced  by  the  yellowish  thickening  of  the  interlobular 
septa,  combined  with  cedema  and  congestion,  or  red  hepatization  of  the  parenchyma  of 
the  lobules  involved,  was  seldom  absent  from  some  portion  of  the  affected  lung.  This  is 
the  phenomenon  most  likely  to  arrest  the  attention  of  observers  familiar  with  the  post 
mortem  appearances  of  pleuropneumonia  in  the  human  subject,  when  their  attention  is 

*  Die  interlobuliire  Pneumonic.     Virchow's  Arcbiv.,  Bd.  vi,  S.  89. 


60  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

for  the  first  time  directed  to  the  disease  in  cattle.  It  is  conditioned  by  the  peculiar 
anatomical  arrangement  of  the  lungs  of  these  animals,  in  which  the  lobules  are  separated 
from  each  other,  by  processes  of  the  pleura  or  by  septa  of  loose  connective  tissue,  to  an 
extent  which  has  no  parallel  in  the  human  subject.  The  inflammation  of  the  pleura 
speedily  extends  to  these  loose  interlobular  septa,  in  which  a  rapid  lymph  formation  takes 
place,  resulting  in  the  production  of  the  thick  yellowish  layers  above  described.  Very 
often  these  thickened  septa  are  softened  in  their  central  portions,  where  they  frequently 
present  irregular  cavities  containing  a  turbid  serum  or  a  puriform  fluid,  while  the  lymph 
next  the  surfaces  of  the  adjacent  lobules  is  much  denser  and  more  consistent. 

Amidst  these  extensive  changes  of  the  lung  tissue,  the  larger  air  passages  usually 
remain  singularly  free  from  disease.  Those  which  actually  ramify  in  the  diseased  portions 
of  the  lung  present  more  or  less  congestion  of  their  mucous  membrane  and  generally  con 
tain  a  variable  quantity  of  puruloid  mucus,  or  of  yellow  lymph,  not  unlike  that  seen  in  the 
pleural  cavity ;  but  the  bronchial  inflammation  which  exists  in  these  situations  does  not 
generally  extend  to  the  other  bronchial  tubes  or  the  tracliea. 

In  considering  the  general  character  of  the  lesions  briefly  sketched  in  the  foregoing 
paragraphs,  it  appeared  to  me  that  the  following  points  were  especially  deserving  of  micro 
scopical  investigation  :  the  alterations  in  the  lung  parenchyma ;  those  in  the  connective 
tissue  of  the  pleura,  pericardium,  and  interlobular  septa ;  the  structure  of  the  lymph 
masses  adherent  to  the  pleura  and  pericardium,  and  the  peculiar  transformation  of  portions 
of  the  adipose  tissue  in  the  vicinity  of  the  heart. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  investigation  I  not  merely  examined  the  elements  obtained 
by  tearing  and  scraping  the  tissues  to  be  studied,  and  observed  fragments  or  sections 
immersed  simply  in  the  serum  which  drained  from  the  cedernatous  organ,  but  I  made  use 
of  the  well-known  glycerine  method,  and,  above  all,  caused  my  assistant,  Dr.  Schaeffer,  to 
prepare  the  thin  section  to  which  I  have  already  alluded.  For  this  purpose,  the  process 
most  generally  employed  at  the  museum  for  the  preparation  of  thin  sections  of  pathologica 
tissues  was  resorted  to,  a  process  which  I  have  described  in  full  elsewhere.*  Its  general 
features  are  as  follows  : 

Small  portions  of  the  parts  intended  for  investigation  are  hardened  and  gradually 
robbed  of  their  moisture  by  soaking  them  for  a  few  days  in  alcohol  of  moderate  strength, 
replacing  this  by  alcohol  of  95  per  cent.,  in  which  they  remain  a  few  days  longer,  when 
they  are  immersed  in  absolute  alcohol  until  they  are  hard  enough  to  cut  into  thin  sec 
tions  by  means  of  a  razor  and  one  of  the  ordinary  cutting  machines.  The  nuclei  are  then 
stained  with  Thiersch's  carmine  fluid,  or  with  carmine  dissolved  in  a  saturated  solution  of 
borax,  after  which  they  are  again  placed  a  few  days  in  absolute  alcohol,  and  finally 
mounted  in  a  solution  of  Canada  balsam  in  chloroform  or  benzole.  When  the  solution  of 
carmine  and  borax  was  -employed  the  sections  were  subsequently  treated  with  oxalic  acid, 
to  give  brilliancy  to  the  carmine  staining. 

Instead  of  the  above,  some  of  the  sections  after  staining  were  immersed  for  some 
time  in  glycerine  and  finally  mounted  in  a  jelly  of  glycerine  and  gum  arabic.  These  prep 
arations  were  at  first  quite  as  beautiful  as  those  mounted  in  Canada  balsam,  but,  though  less 

*  American  Journal  of  Medical  Sciences,  Januury,  1869,  page  277  ;  see,  also,  Instructions  to  Medical  Officers  to  -whom 
a  Microscope  is  furnished,  Surgeon  General's  Office,  July  1,  1868. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  67 

than  a  year  has  elapsed  since  they  were  made,  they  are  already  considerably  altered,  and 
have  long  been  far  inferior  in  distinctness  and  beauty  to  those  preserved  in  balsam. 

My  experience  at  the  museum  has  led  me  to  give  preference  to  the  method  described 
over  any  other  which  I  have  tried  for  the  purpose  of  making  sections  of  pathological  tissue. 
The  preparations  which  result  closely  resemble  in  appearance  those  obtained  when  success 
fully-made  fresh  sections  are  stained  with  carmine  and  mounted  in  glycerine,  after  Beale's 
method,  and  they  not  merely  present  the  arrangement  of  the  parts  with  much  less  displace 
ment  of  the  elements,  but  are  better  suited  for  study  with  high  powers,  and  it  is  possible 
to  prepare  satisfactorily  much  larger  and  thinner  sections.  They  possess,  moreover,  the 
incontestable  advantage  of  being  capable  of  indefinite  preservation,  and  hence  I  am  able 
to  state  that  those  which  have  served  for  the  following  description  can  be  seen  at  the 
museum  by  any  microscopist  desirous  of  studying  them. 

To  illustrate  the  descriptions  here  offered,  I  have  prepared  a  series  of  photo-micrographs, 
representing  characteristic  portions  of  certain  of  the  sections.  The  objects  photographed 
are  shown  with  a  magnifying  power  of  four  hundred  diameters,  linear.  The  objective  used 
was  the  4th  of  William  Wales,  of  Fort  Lee,  New  Jersey,  which  is  specially  corrected  for 
photography.  No  eye-piece  was  employed.  The  source  of  illumination  in  most  cases  was 
the  oxycalcium  light.  The  process  resorted  to  has  been  published  in  full  in  my  recent 
reports  to  the  Surgeon  General  on  the  electric,  magnesium,  and  calcium  lights  as  sources  of 
illumination  in  photo-micrography,  and  need  not,  therefore,  be  described  in  this  place.* 

The  minute  structure  of  the  parts  selected  for  study  will  now  be  briefly  described  in 
the  order  already  indicated  : 

1.  The  alterations  in  the  parenchyma  of  the  lung  will  be  best  understood  after  a 
brief  sketch  of  the  appearances  presented  by  sections  made  through  normal  or  nearly  nor 
mal  portions.  Such  sections,  prepared  as  already  described,  and  mounted  in  balsam,  af 
forded  quite  satisfactory  objects  for  study.  Since  the  morsels  of  lung  selected  were  not  in 
flated  before  immersing  them  into  the  alcohol,  the  air  vesicles  on  the  periphery  of  the  pieces, 
of  course,  collapsed  more  or  less  completely.  Those  in  the  central  portions,  however,  re 
tained  their  shape  to  a  tolerable  extent,  and  from  such  portions,  therefore,  the  sections 
were  prepared.  The  air  vesicles,  as  seen  in  these  sections,  were  irregularly  polygonal, 
approaching  a  rounded  or  oval  form,  and  averaged  about  -gooth  of  an  inch  in  their  long  diam 
eter.  Their  walls,  when  cut  transversely  in  the  sections,  appeared  to  be  composed  largely 
of  capillary  blood-vessels,  the  contours  of  which  could  readily  be  observed.  The  numerous 
nuclei  of  the  walls  of  these  capillaries  averaged  smooth  of  an  inch  in  long  diameter.  In 
places  where  larger  vessels  came  into  view,  the  elements  of  their  walls  could  usually  be  well 
made  out,  and  were  generally  surrounded  by  more  or  less  connective  tissue,  in  which  elas 
tic  fibers  were  often  prominent.  In  all  the  sections  there  were  numerous  air  vesicles  so 
divided  by  the  knife  that,  in  certain  positions  of  the  fine  adjustment  of  the  microscope, 
a  view  of  the  inner  surface  of  one  of  the  walls  of  the  vesicle  was  obtained.  This  always 
presented  numerous  oval  nuclei  arranged  at  regular  intervals,  and  delicate  contours  could 
generally  be  traced  between  them,  which,  it  seemed  to  me,  could  be  best  interpreted,  in 
many  cases,  by  supposing  them  to  be  portions  of  the  boundaries  of  flat,  polygonal,  nu 
cleated  cells,  corresponding  to  the  epithelium  of  the  air  vesicles  described  by  some  authors. 
The  appearances  might  also,  perhaps,  be  interpreted  by  the  supposition  that  the  nuclei 

*  See  also  American  Journal  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  May,  1870,  the  National  Medical  Journal,  April,  1870,  and  the 
London  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal  for  June  and  August,  1870. 


08  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

belonged  to  the  capillaries  of  the  wall  in  view,  and  the  delicate  contours  might  be  referred 
to  the  limiting  membrane  of  these  vessels,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  neither  the  relative 
position  of  the  nuclei,  nor  the  direction  of  the  contours,  corresponded  so  well  with  this 
view  as  with  that  first  mentioned.  The  nuclei,  moreover,  were  somewhat  broader  than 
those  of  the  undoubted  capillaries  in  other  portions  of  the  section,  though  of  the  same  average 
length.  The  epithelial  cells,  if  such  they  were,  averaged  jsV&th  of  an  inch  in  long  diameter. 

The  first  of  the  photo-micrographs  appended,  represents  a  portion  of  one  of  these 
sections,  (No.  2801,  Microscopical  Section,)  and  exhibits  the  appearance  described,  as  seen 
with  400  diameters.  In  arranging  the  focal  adjustment  of  the  microscope  so  as  to  bring 
into  view  that  portion  of  the  wall  of  the  air  vesicle  which  displays  the  epithelium-like 
appearance,  the  rest  of  the  section  is  necessarily  thrown  out  of  focus,  and  is  so  represented 
in  the  photograph. 

When,  now,  sections  of  the  diseased  portions  of  the  lung  were  compared  with  the 
above,  the  most  noteworthy  alteration  observed  was  in  the  contents  of  the  air  vesicles. 
These,  which  had  been  quite  empty  in  the  healthy  lung,  were  in  the  diseased  portion 
found  to  contain  pus  corpuscles  in  variable  numbers.  All  possible  transitions  could  be 
seen  between  vesicles  containing  a  few  scattered  corpuscles  and  those  in  which  the  whole 
cavity  was  filled  with  them.  Where  the  pus  corpuscles  were  not  numerous  enough  to 
obscure  the  view,  delicate  fibrin  filaments  could  generally  be  made  out  between  them,  so 
that  the  contents  of  the  air  vesicles  were,  in  fact,  quite  similar  in  composition  to  the  lymph 
masses  on  the  surface  of  the  pleura  and  in  the  interlobular  trabeculae,  which  will  be 
presently  described.  The  sections  containing  but  a  few  scattered  pus  corpuscles  were 
from  the  reddened  and  codematous  portions  of  the  lung,  which,  however,  still  contained 
enough  air  to  enable  them  to  float  on  water;  those  containing  numerous  pus  corpuscles, 
with  fibrin  filaments  between,  were  from  portions  of  the  lung  which  had  entered,  more  or 
less  completely,  into  the  stage  of  red  hepatization,  while  those  which  were  stuffed  so  full 
of  pus  corpuscles  that  the  shape  of  the  air  vesicle  and  its  relations  to  neighboring  parts 
were  quite  obscured,  were  from  the  most  completely  hepatized  portions,  or  from  those 
which  had  passed  into  the  condition  of  gray  hepatization. 

With  these  changes  in  the  contents  of  the  air  vesicles  of  the  diseased  lung,  altera 
tions  undoubtedly  occurred  in  the  walls  of  the  air  vesicles.  In  the  sections  they  appeared 
thicker  than  normal,  they  took  up  carmine  more  abundantly  when  stained,  and  their 
texture  became  more  and  more  granular  in  the  more  completely  hepatized  portions  of  the 
parenchyma,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  make  out  their  structure  and  to  trace  the  precise 
changes  which  they  had  undergone.  With  these  changes  there  was  associated  a  notable 
diminution  in  the  cohesiveness  of  the  tissue,  which  became  friable  and  easily  torn,  as  has 
long  been  observed  in  the  case  of  pneumonic  lungs  in  the  human  subject.  I  regret  greatly 
that  the  time  at  my  disposal  did  not  permit  more  elaborate  research  with  regard  to  these 
changes,  yet  cannot  avoid  the  opinion  that  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  in  this 
direction  are  so  great  as  materially  to  diminish  the  probability  that  more  protracted  efforts 
would  have  proved  fruitful  in  the  present  incomplete  state  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
histology  of  the  lung.  I  append  two  photo-micrographs  taken  from  one  of  these  sections, 
(No.  2808,  Microscopical  Section,)  each  magnified  400  diameters.  They  exhibit  partially 
hepatized  portions  of  the  lung  in  which  the  air  vesicles  contain  the  pus  corpuscles  and 
fibrin  filaments  above  described.  The  second  photograph  represents  a  rather  more  advanced 
stage  than  the  first. 


THE  LUNG  PLAGUE.  69 

2.  The  alterations  in  the  connective  tissue  of  the  pleura,  pericardium,  and  interlobular 
septa  have  next  to  be  described.     The  connective  tissue  of  the  inflamed  pleura  or  pericar 
dium  was  more  or  less  thickened  in  accordance  with  the  stage  of  the  disease.     In  fresh 
sections  it  was  whitish  or  yellowish  white,  sometimes  lardaceous,  sometimes  opaque  and 
yellow.    Where  lymph  masses  were  adherent  the  epithelium  could  no  longer  be  made  out, 
even  when  the  superimposed  lymph  was  so  loosely  attached  as  to  permit  it  to  be  readily 
stripped  off.     Every  transition  existed  between  this  condition  and  that  in  which  the 
diseased  membrane  and  the  adjacent  lymph  mass  appeared  to  pass  into  each  other  by 
insensible  gradations.     In  the  microscopical  examination  of  sections  the  most  notable 
alteration  observed  was  the  great  increase  in  the  number  of  cellular  elements.     The 
character  and  distribution  of  these  could  generally  be  inferred  from  the  distribution  of  the 
oval  carmine-stained  nuclei,  smooth  to  srooth  of  an  inch  in  length,  but  in  many  parts  of  the 
sections  the  elongated  or  even  spindle-formed  cells  in  which  the  nuclei  were  contained  could 
be  plainly  distinguished.     They  were  imbedded  in  a  delicately  fibrillated  matrix,  and  were 
very  generally  grouped  together  in  rows.     Such  rows  of  elements,  it  is  well  known,  have, 
until  recently,  been  interpreted  as  the  progeny  of  the  connective  tissue  corpuscles,  from 
which  they  were  supposed  to  be  derived  by  the  process  of  cell  multiplication.     The  recent 
investigations  of  Cohnheim,  which  have  found  very  general  acceptance  in  Germany,  would 
appear,  however,  to  throw  doubts  on  this  view.     I  shall  return  to  the  subject  in  the  sequel.' 

The  conditions  to  be  observed  in  the  thickened  connective  tissue  septa  between  the 
lobules  were  essentially  similar  to  the  above.  The  fourth  photograph  appended  is  intended 
to  illustrate  these  changes  in  the  inflamed  connective  tissue.  It  is  taken  from  No.  2817, 
Microscopical  Section,  which  is  a  portion  of  inflamed  pericardium,  and  is  magnified  400 
diameters.  The  arrangement  of  the  numerous  nuclei,  and  the  fibrillated  character  of  the 
matrix  in  which  they  are  imbedded,  are  well  displayed. 

3.  The  lymph  masses  adherent  to  the  pleura  and  pericardium,  and  the  flakes  of  lymph 
which  floated  in  the  serum  contained  in  the  thoracic  cavities,  were  composed  of  coagulated 
fibrin  with  a  variable  number  of  pus  corpuscles  imbedded.     The  fibrin  was  sometimes 
merely  granular,  but  very  often  distinctly  filamentous.     The  serum  itself  usually  con 
tained  floating  pus  corpuscles  ;  their  number  being  proportioned  to  the  degree  of  turbidity 
observed  in  the  fluid.     The  fifth  photograph  appended,  taken  from  a  portion  of  No.  2817, 
Microscopical  Section,  represents  a  portion  of  the  lymph  mass  adherent  to  the  pericardium, 
magnified  400  diameters.     It  will  be  seen  that  the  pus  corpuscles  are  quite  abundant. 

4.  The  transformed  adipose  tissue  about  the  pericardium  remains  now  to  be  briefly 
described.     Sections  showed  that  the  fat  vesicles  retained  their  shape,  and  generally  their 
fatty  contents,  but  the  delicate  transparent  connective   tissue  by  which  they  are  held 
together  in  the  normal  condition  was  greatly  thickened,  and  in  its  more  or  less  distinctly 
fibrillated  substance  numbers  of  new  elements  could  be  observed,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
connective  tissue  of  the  diseased  pleura.     In  the  balsam-mounted  sections,  these  appear 
ances  are  well  preserved  with  the  exception  that  the  contents  of  the  fat  vesicles  have  been 
dissolved  by  the  reagents  used.     The  last  of  the  appended  photographs  represents  a  portion 
of  one  of  these  sections  magnified  400  diameters.     It  is  taken  from  No.  2794,  Microscop 
ical  Section. 

Although  the  foregoing  observations  were  very  carefully  made,  they  are  far  from  being 
as  complete  as  I  could  have  wished,  and  many  important  points  connected  with  the  his- 


70  DEPAETMENT  OF  AGEICULTUEE. 

tology  of  the  diseased  parts,  remain  untouched.  Still  I  entertain  the  hope  that  what  I 
have  been  enabled  to  accomplish  with  the  opportunities  at  my  disposal,  will  possess  some 
real  value,  particularly  as  the  course  pursued  of  preserving  sections  in  a  permanent  form 
will  permit  these  to  serve  for  further  study  in  the  future,  in  connection  with  any  similar 
investigations  that  may  hereafter  be  undertaken  in  this  country. 

It  will  be  observed,  from  the  descriptions  I  have  offered,  that  the  disease  is  one  of 
those  intense  and  rapidly  spreading  inflammatory  affections  characterized  by  the  develop 
ment  of  what  Rokitansky  formerly  described  as  croupous  exudates,  on  the  surface  of  the 
affected  serous  membrane,  and  in  the  parenchyma  of  the  organs  involved.  The  examina 
tion  of  specimens  taken  from  animals  dead  at  different  periods  during  the  course  of  the 
disease,  and  the  study  of  different  portions  of  the  same  lung  when  a  part  is  comparatively 
healthy  and  a  part  diseased,  would  seem  to  indicate  the  correctness  of  the  opinion  of 
Professor  Weber*  that  the  pleura  is  primarily  involved,  and  that  the  parenchyma  of 
the  lung  is  only  affected  secondarily,  after  the  pleura  coating  the  lobules,  and  the  con 
nective  tissue  trabecula}  connected  with  it,  have  become  involved.  The  comparatively 
healthy  condition  of  the  air  passages,  or  at  least  of  those  portions  of  them  which  are  not 
imbedded  in  the  hepatized  parts  of  the  lung,  is  particularly  worthy  of  note. 

In  its  histological  relations,  it  will  be  perceived  that  the  disorder  is  characterized  by 
the  appearance  of  immense  numbers  of  pathological  elementary  forms  in  the  parts  involved. 
These  appear  in  the  air  vesicles  of  the  lungs,  in  the  lymph  masses  adherent  to  the  pleura 
and  the  pericardium,  and  in  the  abundant  serous  fluid  which  accumulates  in  the  thoracic 
cavities,  under  the  well-known  form  of  pus  cells.  In  the  sections  of  the  inflamed  con 
nective  tissue  of  the  pleura  and  pericardium,  the  connective  tissue  of  the  interlobular 
trabeculas,  and  of  the  adipose  tissue  about  the  pericardium,  the  new  elements  do  not, 
however,  sufficiently  resemble  pus  cells  to  permit  me  to  assume  them  to  be  such  without 
hesitation. 

In  describing  the  sections  of  the  inflamed  pericardium  and  pleura,  I  have  already 
mentioned  that  the  nuclei  were  oval  in  form,  g-aVoth  to  lo'orrth  of  an  inch  in  long  diameter,  and 
generally  grouped  together  in  rows  of  two,  three,  or  more  elements  ;  and  I  mentioned  that 
the  views  of  Virchow,  by  which  these  rows  were  interpreted  as  the  progeny  of  the  pro 
liferation  of  the  normal  connective  tissue  corpuscles  of  the  part,  were  assailed  by  the 
recent  investigations  of  Cohnheim.  According  to  this  observer  they  are,  in  fact,  rows  of 
white  blood  corpuscles,  which  have  made  their  way  through  the  walls  of  the  blood  ves 
sels  during  the  inflammatory  process,  and  which  are  found  in  longer  or  shorter  rows  sim 
ply  because  in  their  "wandering"  they  are  obliged  to  follow  the  course  of  the  natural 
channels  which  exist  in  the  tissues.  Now,  the  pus  corpuscles  above  described  in  the 
lymph  masses,  and  in  the  cavities  of  the  air  vesicles,  can  readily  be  understood  to  have, 
perhaps,  had  this  origin;  certainly  none  of  the  lung  sections  I  have  preserved  exhibit  any 
appearances  which  would  indicate  that  their  pus  corpuscles  were  genetically  connected 
with  any  process  of  proliferation  going  on  in  the  normal  anatomical  elements  of  the  lung. 
But  with  the  new  elements  observed  in  the  inflamed  connective  tissue,  this  explanation  is 
not  so  satisfactory.  Take,  for  example,  the  sections  of  the  inflamed  pericardium.  Here 
the  nuclei  of  the  numerous  new  cells,  seen  in  the  sections,  resemble  the  nuclei  of  em 
bryonic  connective  tissue  corpuscles,  and  not  those  of  pus.  And  where  it  is  possible,  as 

*  Loc.  cit. 


THE  LUNG  TLAGUE.  71 

it  is  in  many  places,  to  distinguish  the  cell  forms  in  which  they  lie,  these  are  seen  to  have 
the  character  of  young  connective  tissue  cells.  If,  indeed,  they  are  white  blood  corpus 
cles,  they  have  then  already  been  transformed  to  the  similitude  of  the  elements  charac 
teristic  of  the  tissue  in  which  they  have  imbedded  themselves,  and  it  appears  to  me  that 
in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  we  are  not  yet  justified  in  assuming  such  a  trans 
formation  to  be  more  than  a  bare  possibility.  In  his  criticism  of  the  observations  of  His 
on  the  inflamed  cornea,  Cohnheim  has,  as  I  think,  correctly  attempted  to  show  that  the 
rows  of  cells  supposed  by  that  author  to  have  proceeded  from  the  proliferation  of  the  cor 
nea  corpuscles  are  in  fact  rows  of  white  corpuscles  crowded  into  the  channels  which 
normally  exist  in  the  corneal  tissue,  and  explains  that  His  was  misled  by  the  transforma 
tions  effected  in  the  corpuscles  by  the  reagents  he  employed.  This  criticism,  however, 
will  not  apply  with  any  force  to  the  sections  under  consideration,  for  these  were  all  pre 
pared  in  precisely  the  same  manner,  and  those  of  the  lung  tissue  and  of  the  lymph  masses 
present  the  pus  corpuscles  in  some  places  almost  quite  unaltered,  in  all  readily  recogniz 
able  in  spite  of  any  transformation  they  may  have  undergone,  while  the  new  cells,  crowded 
into  the  connective  tissue,  have  the  characters  which  I  have  described. 

I  invite  attention  to  this  subject  the  more  particularly  because  my  study  of  the  essays 
of  Cohnheim  lead  me  to  regard  his  opinion  with  very  great  respect.  His  generalizations 
and  theories  are  deduced  from  new  observations  made  by  himself  and  others,  very  many 
of  which  have  been  confirmed  by  several  careful  histologists.  A  number  of  them  have 
been  satisfactorily  repeated  under  my  direction  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum  with  similar 
results.  Among  these  I  may  particularly  specify  the  new  developments  with  regard  to  the 
structure  of  the  blood-vessels  resulting  from  the  use  of  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver  as 
an  injecting  and  staining  fluid ;  the  wandering  of  the  white  corpuscles  through  the  vas 
cular  walls  in  the  mesentery  of  wourarized  frogs,  when  that  membrane  is  inflamed  by 
drawing  out  a  knuckle  of  intestine  through  an  opening  in  the  abdominal  parietes;  the  new 
observations  on  the  structure  of  the  cornea,  particularly  those  resulting  from  its  treatment 
with  nitrate  of  silver,  chloride  of  gold,  and  its  examination  while  fresh  in  the  moist  cham 
ber,  and  from  the  study  by  these  processes  of  the  inflamed  cornea  of  the  frog. 

The  results  of  the  investigations  on  these  subjects,  conducted  by  myself  and  rny  assist 
ants,  have  accorded  so  well  with  the  descriptions  of  Cohnheim  as  to  incline  me  to  regard 
with  much  favor  those  of  his  statements  which  I  have  not  yet  had  an  opportunity  of  sub 
mitting  to  investigation,  but  I  am  not  prepared  to  accept  without  reserve  the  ingenious 
argument  by  which  he  attempts  to  generalize  from  the  facts  acquired  to  the  complete 
interpretation  of  the  process  of  inflammation,  and  am  of  the  opinion  that  much  yet  remains 
to  be  done  before  we  shall  be  prepared  to  define  with  precision  the  part  taken  by  the 
migration  of  the  white  corpuscles  in  the  inflammatory  process. 

In  conclusion,  I  may  remark  that  the  future  success  of  investigations  into  the  patho 
logical  histology  of  the  disease  under  consideration  must  depend  to  a  great  extent  upon 
the  progress  made  in  our  knowledge  of  the  minute  anatomy  of  the  healthy  lung.  At  the 
present  time  the  methods  of  research  at  our  disposal  are  not  such  as  to  overcome  com 
pletely  the  difficulties  offered  by  the  complex  structure  of  this  organ.  Observers  have  not 
even  agreed  as  to  the  solution  of  such  apparently  simple  questions  as  the  existence  of  an 
epithelium  in  the  air  vesicles.  More  intricate  problems,  such  as  the  minute  relations  of 
the  lymphatics,  for  example,  lie  still  in  utter  darkness.  Future  success  in  these  imper- 


72  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

fectly  explored  fields  may  be  expected  in  proportion  as  observers  resort  more  and  more  to 
the  practice  of  preserving  in  a  permanent  way  the  type  specimens  which  serve  as  a  basis 
for  their  descriptions,  and  in  proportion  as  photographs  are  substituted  for  those  half- 
schematic  or  diagramatic  drawings,  which  represent  rather  the  interpretation  of  the  inves 
tigator  than  the  objects  as  they  exist  in  nature.  But  perhaps  even  more  is  to  be  antici 
pated  from  the  application  of  new  reagents,  and  of  improved  modes  of  preparing  the  tis 
sues  for  microscopic  examination.  When  we  reflect  on  the  extent  of  the  additions 
which  have  been  made  to  our  knowledge  of  minute  anatomy  by  processes  quite  recently 
introduced,  such  as  imbibition  with  nitrate  of  silver,  chloride  of  gold  and  osmic  acid, 
the  preparation  of  thin  sections  of  frozen  tissues  and  the  use  of  the  moist  chamber, 
it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  it  is  from  future  improvements  in  this  direc 
tion  that  solid  progress  in  the  normal  and  pathological  histology  of  the  lung  is  chiefly  to 
be  expected. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  J.  WOODWARD, 
Assistant  Surgeon  and  Brevet  Lieutenant  Colonel  United  States  Army, 

in  charge  of  the  Medical  and  Microscopical  Sections  of  the  Museum. 
Brevet  Major  General  J.  K.  BARNES, 

Surgeon  General  U.  S.  Army. 


ARMY   MEDICAL    MUSEUM. 


A.Hoen&Co.clirQinolitl\.  Baltimore. 


N9  1.  SECTION  OP  HEALTHY  PORTION  OF  LUNG, 
showing  Epithelium  (?).  From  a  Cow  dead  of  Epidemic  Pleuro-pneumonia. 

Magnified  400di;unrtcrs.  Photographed  by  the  Caloiurii  light  By-  Brt.J.t  Col.  J.J.Woodwarcl  Asst.KtinJeon  U  S.Anny 


ARMY   MEDICAL    MUSEUM. 


A;Hot:n&('o  Baltimore. 

N°  2.  SECTION  OF  INFLAMED  PORTION  OF  LUNG-, 
showing  pus  corpuscles  in  the  air- vesicles.  From  a  Cow  dead  of  Epidemic  Pleuro_  pneumonia. 

Masnithil  400  diameters.  Photographed  by  the  Calcium  lipJil   By  Brt.Lt.  Col..  I..  I  .Woodward  Assi.$urs«>n  U.S.  Army 


ARMY    MEDICAL    MUSEUM. 


.&  Co.£Jaltimoj'<t. 


N93.  SECTION  OF  INFLAMED  PORTION  OF  LUNG-, 
showing  pus  corpuscles  in  the  air  vesicles.  From  a  Cow  dead  of  Epidemic  Pleura    pneumonia. 

Maonifird  400 diameters.  Photographed  by  the  l!aJcium  liglil    By  Brt.Lt.Col.  J.J.Woodward  ASMI  Sursoon  U.S.  Army. 


ARMY    MEDICAL    MUSEUM. 


^v;^  V|- 

.;.-s<^    ' 


'^&?'$$S&> 

~~-    ."'  $ffi& 


"#^ 


A.Hoen&t'o.  BaJtimore. 

N?  4. SECTION  OF  INFLAMED  PORTION  OF  PERICARDIUM, 
showing  numerous   new  elements.  From  a  Cow  dead  of  Epidemic  Pleuro-pneumonia. 

light    By  Brl.M.C  ol..J..I.Wootlwarrl  ASM  Sursron  i:.S  Armv 


ARMY   MEDICAL    MUSEUM. 


;    . 


A.Iloen&Co.ch;roinoJith.  Baltimore. 


N95.  PORTION  OF  THE  EXUDATION  IN  THE  PERICARDIUM, 
showing  pus  cells.  From  a  Cow  dead  of  Epidemic  Pleuro  pneumonia. 

Magnified  400  diameters.  Photographed  by  Hie  Caldum  light   ByBrt.Lt.Col.  J.  J  .Woodward  Ass\  .Surgeon  U.S.Antiy: 


ARMY   MEDICAL    MUSEUM. 


A.Hoen  &  Co.  .Baltimore . 


N?  6.  SECTION  OF  INFLAMED  FAT, 

showing  inflammatory  products  between  the  Fat  cells.  From  the  Fat  aboutttie  pericardium  of  aCow  dead  of  Epidemic  Pleuropneumonia. 
Magnified  400  diameters.  ITiotosraphoi  by  the  Calcium  light  By  Brt.Lt  Col.  .1.  J  .Woodward  A$x\  Surgeon  U.  S.  Army 


REPORT 

OK 

PROF.  GAMGEE  ON  THE  ILL  EFFECTS  OF  SMUT  IN  FEED  OF  FARM  ANIMALS. 


SIR  :  The  opportunity  presented  itself  last  fall  for  an  inquiry  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  smuts  which  attack  plants  may  affect  animals.  The  latter  part  of  1868  was,  throughout 
America,  very  wet ;  a  large  amount  of  corn  became  smutty,  that  is  to  say,  was  attacked  to 
a  serious  extent  by  Ustilago  maidis,  and  reports  reached  me  from  the  West  and  South  that 
cattle  were  dying  in  large  numbers  from  a  mysterious  malady,  the  origin  of  which  was 
unknown.  Prom  Mills  County,  Iowa,  I  was  informed,  late  in  November,  that  about  the 
12th  of  the  month  there  was  a  fall  of  snow  six  inches  deep,  and  that  the  cattle,  which 
usually  roam  at  large  on  the  prairies,  were  taken  in  by  all  the  better  farmers  who  had 
their  corn  gathered,  and  turned  into  the  stalk  fields.  In  about  eight  days  the  cattle  began 
to  die,  all  presenting  the  same  symptoms.  My  informant,  Mr.  James  Hull,  of  Plattsmouth, 
Nebraska,  lost  four  out  of  nineteen  head  in  fourteen  days.  This  gentleman,  alarmed  at 
the  number  of  deaths,  turned  his  cattle  out  of  the  stalk  field  and  gave  them  all  the  salt 
they  would  eat,  mixed  with  copperas  and  sulphur.  As  soon  as  the  bowels  were  moved 
the  symptoms  disappeared.  Mr.  Hull  also  gave  the  cattle  asafoetida  by  "driving  it  into 
the  cob  of  the  corn." 

Personal  inquiries  among  gentlemen  from  different  parts  of  the  United  States,  in 
Washington,  enabled  me  to  trace  the  malady  in  Western  Virginia,  Illinois,  and  the  Caro- 
linas.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  accurate  information  as  to  the  extent  of  losses,  and 
the  localities  affected,  cannot  be  secured. 

There  are  other  circumstances  under  which  cattle  die  from  eating  corn.  The  stalks, 
very  late  in  the  season,  are  apt  to  become  very  hard  and  indigestible,  and  without  a  free 
admixture  of  grass,  which  the  early  frosts  kill,  or  other  food,  they  produce  severe  indi 
gestion  and  death.  This  is  an  observation  that  has  often  been  made  in  America.  More 
over,  cattle  die  sometimes  if  freely  fed  on  corn  that  has  been  badly  stored,  and  is  musty. 
The  same  results  follow  the  use  of  other  deteriorated  foods,  and  a  brief  reference  to  records 
on  this  subject  may  be  found  interesting  and  instructive. 

The  facts  publishe'd  with  regard  to  the  prevalence  of  a  malady  among  cattle  in  Amer 
ica,  caused  by  eating  smutty  corn,  are  very  few.  If,  however,  the  real  cause  of  many  cases 
of  so-called  dry  murrain  had  been  recorded  correctly,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in 
demonstrating  that  the  condition  of  the  corn-fields  has  had  much  to  do  in  developing  this 
disorder. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  received  information  of  the  death  of  cattle  from 
eating  smutty  corn,  in  Hampshire  County,  Massachusetts.     Also  from   Whitley  County, 
Indiana,  where  seven  head- of  cattle,  out  of  fifty,  died,  "probably  from  smut  in  the  corn 
field  in  which  the  herd  ranged." 
30 


74  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

From  Story  County,  Iowa,  it  is  reported  that  "last  November  a  disease  appeared 
among  herds  recently  turned  into  corn-stalk  fields.  The  disease  is  evidently  the  dry  mur 
rain.  A  post-mortem  examination  showed  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach  to  be 
highly  inflamed,  with  symptoms  of  poisoning.  It  is  evident  that  the  disease  is  generated 
in  the  stalk  fields,  and  probable  that  it  is  produced  by  gorging  the  stomach  when  first  turned 
into  the  stalks,  after  being  confined  on  the  wild,  frost-bitten,  prairie  grass,  and  lack  of 
sufficient  water."  A  few  cattle  died  of  dry  murrain  in  Audubon  County,  in  the  same 
State,  "supposed  by  some  to  be  caused  by  smut  in  corn-stalks."  A  few  head  were  lost 
from  the  same  cause  in  Calhoun  County,  and  many  are  reported  to  have  died  in  Marshall 
County.  We  are,  however,  informed  from  Sac  County  that  many  cattle  died  in  Decem 
ber — cause  unknown;  "some  supposed  from  eating  smutty  corn,  but  that  has  been  dis 
proved."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  more  is  not  stated  with  regard  to  the  reasons  which  led 
persons  to  doubt  the  effects  of  the  smutty  corn.  Even  in  New  York  State  little  credence 
was  given  to  the  action  of  smutty  corn  at  first ;  but  careful  inquiry  proved  that  after  all  it 
was  the  cause  of  the  dry  murrain  of  the  fall  of  1868.  From  Dakota  County,  Nebraska, 
we  learn  of  dry  murrain  from  this  cause ;  whereas  from  Shawnee  County  it  is  reported, 
and  no  doubt  correctly,  that  the  same  disease  has  been  noticed  among  cattle  "  fed  on 
prairie  hay,  cut  after  frost." 

In  Scotland  the  clovers  are  apt  to  induce  a  similar  condition  at  times,  and  the  mal 
ady  is  there  called  "grass  disease."  It  is  not  a  specific  affection,  but  arises  from  a  dry- 
ness  and  indigestibility  of  one  kind  of  food,  animals  being  debarred  by  circumstances  from 
a  salutary  admixture  of  different  kinds  of  feed. 

The  cultivation  of  maize  or  Indian  corn  is  already  ancient  in  America;  and  the  intro 
duction  of  this  important  grain  into  Spain,  and  as  far  back  as  1560  into  Italy,  should  have 
resulted  in  the  knowledge  of  its  effects  on  man  and  animals,  under  the  many  conditions 
in  which  it  is  found.  Indeed,  we  are  not  without  some  knowledge  of  the  subject,  though 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  accurate  information  can  be  gleaned  from  the  writings  of  few 
who  have  referred  to  it.  Both  in  its  effects  on  men  and  animals,  the  consumption  of  In 
dian  corn  should  be  studied  in  localities  where  at  times  it  constitutes  the  main  article  of 
diet,  and  where  it  is  used  at  all  times  with  other  kinds  of  food. 

Among  men  in  America,  from  time  immemorial,  its  use  could  be  diversified  by  that 
of  game,  whereas  in  some  parts  of  Italy,  remarkable  for  the  prevalence  of  pellagra  among 
the  inhabitants,  people  often  live  exclusively  on  corn  bread,  or  the  corn  pudding  they 
call  polenta.  The  excess  of  starchy  constituents,  and  scantiness  of  nitrogenous  materials 
in  corn  as  compared  with  the  other  grains  from  which  flour  and  bread  are  manufactured, 
have  been  considered  the  causes  of  a  cachectic  and  ill-nourished  condition  said  to  prevail 
wherever  maize  is  the  staple  article  of  diet  among  a  people. 

Mazzari,*  Nardi,f  and  Letti  have  described  the  pellagra  of  Italy,  which  I  witnessed 
some  years  ago  in  a  bad  form  in  the  hospital  of  Ferrara,  as  due  to  diseased  or  smutty 
corn. 

The  extensive  cultivation  of  maize  in  Italy  dates  from  the  eighteenth  century,  and  it 
is  recorded  by  the  celebrated  Monati  and  others  that  before  that  period  pellagra  was 
unknown.  Balardini  experimented  with  a  view  to  demonstrate  that  the  smut  on  corn  is 
poisonous,  and  he  records  deleterious  effects  on  fowls  and  even  dogs. 

*  Silvio  medico-politico  milla  pellagra,  Milauo,  18116.  t  Causa  c  euro  della  pellagra,  Mihino,  183C. 


ILL  EFFECTS  OP  SMUT.  75 

Although  tliis  does  not  exactly  correspond  with  one  result  I  have  obtained,  and 
recorded  below,  it  is  most  desirable  that  experiments  should  be  continued  on  the  subject. 
Balardini  confirms  the  observation  of  Vallenzosca  della  Palcadina,  that  the  pellagra 
recorded  by  Odoardo  as  prevailing  in  the  Alps  of  Bellano  in  1776  completely  disappeared 
on  the  introduction  of  the  potato  as  the  basis  of  the  food  of  the  poor. 

M.  Signad,  in  his  Diseases  of  Brazil,  attributes  the  chlorosis  or  intertropical  anaemia 
among  the  black  slaves  and  the  inhabitants  on  the  western  side  of  the  Sierra  dos  Organos 
to  the  exclusive  use  of  Indian  corn. 

The  symptoms  recorded  by  Jubins  are,  pallor  of  the  face  and  body,  yellowish,  some 
what  transparent,  and  sometimes  greenish  tint  of  the  skin.  The  blacks  that  become 
affected  lose  their  color. 

M.  Ruldin  records,  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  Journal  de  Chimie  Medicale,  some 
observations  on  what  he  calls  ergot  of  maize,  but  which  Heusinger  believes  is  the  ordinary 
charbon,  or  smut.  Roulin  saw  this  diseased  grain  in  the  southern  parts  of  Colombia, 
where  it  is  called  maiz  peladera.  Its  use  causes  people  to  lose  their  hair,  and  this  is  very 
remarkable  in  a  country  where  baldheadedness  is  almost  unknown,  even  among  old  people. 

Sometimes  it  causes  looseness  and  the  loss  of  teeth,  but  never  gangrene  of  the  limbs 
nor  convulsive  maladies.  Pigs  at  first  dislike  this  diseased  corn,  but  soon  acquire  a  taste 
for  it,  and  after  eating  it  for  a  few  days  their  bristles  drop  out,  and  subsequently  there  is 
an  awkwardness  in  the  movements  of  their  hind  legs,  and  atrophy  of  those  limbs.  Eating 
the  pigs  produces  no  ill  effects  on  man.  Mules  eat  the  maiz  peladera,  lose  their  hair,  and 
suffer  from  engorgements  of  the  limbs;  they  are  tied  in  distant  pastures,  and  with  the 
change  of  diet  some  recover.  Hens  fed  on  the  material  lay  eggs  without  shells.  In  the 
corn  fields  where  the  disease  prevails  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  monkeys  and  parrots  fall 
unable  to  rise  again.  The  indigenous  dogs  and  deer  that  enter  the  corn  fields  at  night 
suffer  in  the  same  way. 

It  is  asserted  that  across  the  Paramos,  in  the  colder  parts  of  Colombia,  these 
accidents  are  not  seen  ;  and  Dr.  Roulin  has  indeed  witnessed  them  only  in  the  provinces 
of  Neyra  and  Mariquita. 

Dulong*  has  analyzed  corn  smut,  and  although  his  analysis  cannot  at  the  present  day 
be  considered  satisfactory,  it  is  the  only  one  on  record.  He  found  it  to  contain  a  material 
similar  to  fungine,  a  material  allied  to  osmazone,  a  nitrogenous  substance,  a  fatty  matter, 
a  waxy  matter,  acids,  a  brown  coloring  matter,  a  free  organic  acid,  and  combinations  of 
this  acid  with  magnesia  and  potash ;  lastly,  he  found  phosphate,  muriate,  and  sulphate  of 
potash,  subphosphate  of  lime,  sal  ammoniac, "and  oxide  of  iron  ;  it  contained  no  starch. 

Anxious  to  try  some  experiments  on  the  action  of  pure  smut  on  cattle,  I  employed  a 
negro  in  January,  1869,  to  go  into  the  country  and  collect  for  me  a  large  quantity  of  pure 
smut. 

It  was  rather  late,  and  the  rains  had  washed  most  of  it  off  the  still  standing  stalks  ; 
but  I  obtained  forty-two  pounds  of  excellent  smut,  free  from  adventitious  matters.  On 
the  26th  day  of  February,  Mr.  George  Reid,  of  Ingleside  farm,  near  Washington,  D.  C., 
purchased  two  cows,  in  good  health,  and  aged  respectively  about  seven  years.  One  cow 
was  fed  thrice  daily  one  and  one-half  pound  of  corn-meal  aud  three  ounces  of  smut,  mixed 
with  as  much  cut  hay-  as  she  would  eat.  The  second  had  the  same  allowance,  but  wet. 

*  Journal  tie  I'biinuacie,  vol.  xiv. 


7(3  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

On  the  7th  of  March  the  amount  of  smut  given  in  each  feed  was  increased  to  six 
ounces.  The  cow  fed  on  dry  food  lost  flesh.  On  the  15th  of  March  the  dose  of  smut  was 
increased  to  twelve  ounces  three  times  a  day.  The  cow  on  the  wet  food  gained  in  condi 
tion.  The  other  one  lost.  In  three  weeks  the  two  cows  consumed  the  forty-two  pounds 
of  smut ;  they  had  a  voracious  appetite  the  whole  time,  and  the  only  indication  of  a  peculiar 
diet  was  a  very  black  color  of  the  excrement,  and  the  loss  of  flesh  by  one  animal  although 
fed  liberally  on  nutritious  diet,  which,  however,  was  given  in  a  dry  state. 

On  the  12th  of  March  the  temperature  of  both  cows  was  tested,  and  found  102°. 2 
and  102°.4  Fahrenheit. 

No  conclusions  of  importance  can  be  drawn  from  a  single  experiment ;  but  it  is  evi- 
dent  that  smut  is  not  a  very  active  poison  in  combination  with  wholesome  food,  and  espe 
cially  if  the  animal  is  allowed  moist  food  and  plenty  of  water  to  drink.  Cattle  will  eat  the 
smut  greedily,  and  possibly  a  morbid  taste  for  it  is  acquired,  as  has  been  observed  in  pigs. 
It  is  evident  that  cornstalks,  when  starch  and  other  nutritive  elements  have  gone  to  build 
up  the  large  quantities  of  smut  investing  them,  are  essentially  dry,  indigestible  material  for 
any  animal  to  live  on,  and  especially  when  excluded  from  other  food.  That  is  quite  suf 
ficient  to  account  for  the  development  of  the  dry  murrain  that  so  commonly  attacks  cattle 
in  the  United  States,  and  was  more  frequent  than  usual  last  winter. 

Diversifying  and  multiplying  experiments  on  this  question  will  undoubtedly  result  in 
some  interesting  information,  and  I  am  quite  confident  that  it  will  be  fully  demonstrated 
that  smutty  corn  cannot  be  used  safely,  and  certainly  not  economically,  as  a  food 
for  cattle,  and  should  not  be  allowed  them  without  a  great  admixture  of  hay  and  other 
nutritious  food.  The  more  water  and  succulent  food  cattle  are  allowed  while  eating  corn 
stalks,  the  less  liable  they  will  be  to  a  deadly  constipation  and  gastric  impaction.  Numer 
ous  and  even  angry  discussions  have  in  times  past  been  carried  on  in  different  parts  of 
Europe  in  relation  to  the  action  of  mouldy,  musty,  or  otherwise  damaged  fodder  on  the 
lower  animals,  and  a  few  observations  on  the  results  of  feeding  horses,  &c.,  on  hay  and 
grain  tainted  by  fungi  may  be  regarded  as  of  importance  here,  if  only  as  a  means  of  com 
parison. 

The  evident  tendency  is  to  derange  the  alimentary  canal  in  the  first  place,  then  to 
disturb  the  process  of  nutrition  or  assimilation,  and  lastly  to  excite  the  emunctories  for 
the  discharge  of  noxious  principles,  more  particularly  by  inducing  an  excessive  secretion 
of  uiine,  or  diarrhoea. 

MUSTY    HAY. 

It  has  frequently  been  observed  that  the  imperfect  curing  of  hay,  especially  during 
wet  seasons,  is  followed  by  serious  derangements  among  horses,  mules,  and  other  animals, 
which  suffer  from  severe  indigestion,  impaction  of  the  stomach  accompanied  by  vertigo,  or 
the  profuse  discharge  of  clear-colored  urine,  with  intolerable  thirst,  emaciation,  weak 
ness,  and  death.  It  is  said  that  the  Hungarian  hay,  in  different  parts  of  America,  and 
especially  in  parts  of  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and  Kansas,  is  apt  to  cause  considerable  losses, 
if  cut  after  full  inflorescence  and  late  in  the  season.  I  have  been  told  by  Kansas  farmers 
that  great  attention  has  to  be  paid  to  a  sufficiently  early  hay-making  in  order  to  avoid 
accidents. 


ILL  EFFECTS  OF  SMUT.  77 

In  1855  I  witnessed  in  Lyons,  France,  many  cases  of  disease  and  numerous  deaths 
among  horses,  from  the  great  abundance  of  musty  hay,  gathered  during  an  unusually  wet 
season.  Scarcely  a  day  passed  but  one  or  more  cart  horses  were  literally  dragged  to  the 
veterinary  college.  They  moved  along  with  hanging  head,  sunken  eye,  dependent  lip,  and 
tottering  gait,  suffering  from  pains  in  the  abdomen,  and  considerable  tympanitis  ;  partial 
sweats  bedewed  the  body,  the  visible  mucous  membranes  were  of  an  intensely  yellow 
color,  and  the  urine  dark.  On  reaching  a  loose  box,  the  patients  were  tied  to  a  center 
post,  which  turned  as  they  moved  round,  and  prevented  them  from  dashing  their  heads 
against  the  wall.  The  muscles  twitched,  the  horses  writhed  in  pain,  and  dashed  about  in 
fits  of  delirium.  Two  hundred  and  forty-nine  cases  of  this  kind  were  admitted  into  the 
infirmary  from  August,  1854,  to  August,  1855.  The  disease  raged  almost  as  an  epizootic 
from  the  month  of  September,  1854  ;  and  not  only  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lyons,  but  in 
many  departments  of  France. 

In  the  month  of  November,  1856,  I  was  requested  to  see  a  Clydesdale  stallion,  near 
Kirkcaldy,  in  Fife.  This  horse  had,  as  is  very  usual  on  Scotch  farms,  been  turned  into  a 
large  shed,  and  allowed  as  much  hay  as  he  would  eat,  and  a  couple  of  feeds  of  oats.  On 
moving  the  animal  out  of  the  stable,  he  nearly  fell,  and  had  evidently  lost  much  of  his 
natural  control  over  the  movements  of  his  hinder  limbs.  It  was  no  new  form  of  disease, 
but  one  of  those  singular  forms  of  paraplegia  so  commonly  observed  in  herbivorous  ani 
mals,  as  the  result  of  improper  feeding  and  acute  indigestion.  The  owner  thought  the 
animal  had  seriously  injured  his  spine.  A  cathartic  dose  of  aloes,  the  discontinuance  of 
the  use  of  hay  which  was  musty,  and  a  few  doses  of  tonic  medicine,  restored  the  horse. 
From  that  time  I  was  consulted  frequently,  and  in  different  parts,  especially  around  Edin 
burgh  and  on  the  border  counties  of  Scotland,  regarding  this  disease.  A  large  number  of 
animals  died,  from  ignorance  of  the  nature  and  treatment  of  the  disease,  which  disappeared 
with  the  close  of  the  season  during  which  the  bad  crop  of  hay  was  being  consumed.  These 
observations  are  recorded  as  mere  instances  of  frequently  recurring  accidents,  resulting 
from  the  feeding  of  horses  on  musty  hay. 

MUSTY    OATS. 

Among  the  numerous  sources  of  inconvenience  and  loss  to  owners  of  horses  in  Europe 
and  America,  few  are  more  troublesome  than  the  results  of  feeding  on  musty  oats.  I  have 
known  a  large  establishment,  with  nearly  five  hundred  horses,  the  entire  stock  of  which  was 
simultaneously  affected.  Attention  was  first  directed  to  the  unusual  wetness  of  the  litter 
in  the  morning,  and  a  great  craving  for  water.  The  animals  were  weak,  dull  in  harness, 
and  hollow-flanked.  The  wasting  of  tissues  progressed  rapidly  ;  and  in  all  that  had  any 
considerable  exertion  to  undergo,  the  unthrifty  look  of  their  skin,  well  defined  muscles 
from  wasting  of  the  fat  around  them,  and  the  leanness  of  the  upper  part  of  the  neck, 
where  the  great  ligament  suspending  the  head  could  be  felt,  like  a  rigid  cord,  constituted 
very  decided  and  alarming  symptoms.  Persistence  in  work  resulted  in  a  form  of  albumi- 
nnria ;  sometimes  diarrhoea  was  readily  induced,  and  a  purgative  would  so  contribute  to 
increase  the  weakness  and  prostration  that  the  animal  would  die  or  fall  in  a  state  of  hectic. 
All  this  disturbance  in  the  functions  of  nutrition,  assimilation,  and  secretion  ceased  on 
changing  the  diet,  administering  astringents  or  drachm  doses  of  iodide  of  potassium  for  a 
few  days,  and  following  up  with  a  course  of  sulphate  of  iron,  as  a  tonic,  in  very  moderate 
quantities,  not  exceeding  half  a  drachm  or  a  drachm  to  each  horse  per  day. 


78  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTCEE. 

Several  epizootic  attacks  have  been  attributed  to  rust  or  mildew  in  plants.  From- 
ment  looked  upon  it  as  causing  great  loss  among  sheep  in  Pranconia,  during  the  years 
1663,  '64,  and  '65.  Ramazini,  professor  of  medicine  at  Modena  and  Parma,  speaks  of  a 
contagious  malady  affecting  men,  cattle,  and  even  the  silk-worm,  which  broke  out  in  1690. 
The  preceding  four  or  five  years  had  been  very  hot,  and  during  1689  and  1690,  much  rain 
having  fallen,  the  country  was  inundated,  and  the  grasses,  fruits,  and  leguminous  plants 
became  affected  with  rust.  Plagues  which  raged  among  animals  in  Hesse  in  1693,  in 
Hungary  in  1712,  and  in  Saxony  in  1746,  occurred  with,  and  apparently  as  a  result  of, 
mildew  affecting  vegetables.  Gerlach  asserts  that  this  will  produce  abortion  and  inflam 
mation  of  the  womb  in  ewes.  Numann,  Masseband,  and  Niemann  have  also  written  on  the 
noxious  properties  of  plants  affected  with  rust. 

BUSTY    STRAW. 

In  1804  Gohier,  afterward  director  of  the  Lyons  Veterinary  College,  but  then  veter 
inary  surgeon  to  the  20th  light  dragoons,  published  an  interesting  monograph  entitled  "  Des 
effets  des  pailles  rouilk'es."  The  depot  of  Gohier's  regiment  was  established  at  Arras  on  the 
7th  of  June,  with  about  two  hundred  horses.  For  a  month  they  continued  healthy,  being 
supplied  with  good  forage  ;  some  of  the  straw,  however,  was  rusty.  The  whole  regiment 
arrived  and  the  straw  supplied  was  worse  ;  several  horses  fell  ill,  being  generally  attacked 
by  violent  colic.  In  three  days  fourteen  were  affected  with  the  disease  ;  but,  with  the 
exception  of  two  old  horses  that  were  ill  for  three  days,  the  disease  was  only  of  a  few 
hours'  duration.  The  horses  that  partook  most  freely  of  the  rusty  straw  were  most 
seriously  affected.  In  seven  days  thirty  had  suffered,  and  MM.  Gohier  and  Masigny  drew 
up  a  report  condemning  the  forage.  Their  opinion  was  rejected  by  veterinary  surgeons 
and  others  called  upon  to  inquire  into  the  matter,  and  the  whole  evil  was  attributed  to 
some  water,  of  which,  however,  the  horses  had  always  drunk  while  enjoying  perfect  health. 
After  considerable  annoyance  and  litigation  it  was  recognized  that  the  rusty  straw,  and 
even  bad  hay,  had  given  rise  to  much  disease  and  death  among  the  horses  of  the  regiment. 
During  eight  months,  out  of  seven  hundred  horses,  there  were  constantly  forty-five  to 
fifty  in  the  infirmary,  and  in  the  month  of  November  as  many  as  sixty-two.  The  deaths 
were  by  those  diseases  which  always  prevail  when  animals  are  badly  nourished,  namely  : 
stomach  staggers,  colic,  marasmus,  glanders,  farcy,  skin  diseases,  catarrhal  affections,  and 
oedematous  swellings.  Those  horses  suffering  from  oedema  were  very  subject  to  gangrene, 
and  if  setons  were  applied,  or  a  farcy-bud  cauterized  by  fire,  mortification  of  the  wounded 
parts  supervened,  and  the  animals  died  in  a  few  hours.  Gohier  says  that  not  only  the 
rusty  straw  but  likewise  the  bad  hay  was  a  cause  of  the  serious  loss  among  the  horses 
of  his  regiment.  Gohier  instituted  several  experiments  to  prove  that  the  diseased  straw 
was  injurious,  and  not  only  was  he  successful  with  the  straw,  but  a  decoction  of  the  same 
induced  loss  of  appetite,  a  thin  and  sickly  aspect,  and  other  evidences  that  the  animals 
had  been  poisoned. 

MOULDY  BREAD. 

Flour  is  attacked  by  a  very  noxious  red  or  orange-colored  mould,  (Pcnicillium  roseum,} 
and  a  less  poisonous  greenish-blue  mould,  (Penicittium  glaucfn/i.)  Bread  made  from  flour 
which  has  been  kept  in  a  damp  place,  or  that  which  is  the  produce  of  wheat  grown  and 
harvested  during  unfavorable  weather,  becomes  mouldy  and  may  be  very  deleterious. 


ILL  EFFECTS  OF  SMUT.  79 

Accidents  have  happened  where  horses  have  been  fed  on  such  bread,  and  I  may  mention 
that  it  is  not  uncommon  in  some  countries  for  horses  to  be  fed  at  times  partly  on 
bread.  Eating  mouldy  bread  has  been  said  to  induce  gastro-enteritis  in  horses,  and  Pro 
fessor  Fuchs  saw  two  cases  of  stomach  staggers  induced  by  it,  which  were  relieved  by 
purgatives. 

SYMPTOMS   OF   THE   ILL    EFFECTS   OF    SMUTTY    CORN. 

Cattle  fed  on  smutty  cornstalks  first  denote  ill-health  by  constipation.  It  is  true 
that  a  farmer  may  be  attracted  only  by  an  animal  lying  down,  with  an  unthrifty-looking, 
staring  coat,  and  dry  muzzle,  and  perhaps  trembling  ;  or  a  steer  may  be  noticed  "tucked  up," 
with  hind  limbs  drawn  under,  head  depressed,  shivering,  dullness  of  eyes,  and  anxious 
expression  of  countenance.  In  a  third  variety  the  animal  seems  excited,  breathes  quickly, 
and  is  apparently  somewhat  delirious — indeed,  in  the  conditions  described  by  Mr.  Gumming, 
of  Ellen,  Aberdeenshire,  as  resulting  from  impactions  of  the  third  stomach,  as  in  cases  of 
lead  poisoning,  nothing  is  more  strange  than  this  delirium,  associated  as  it  is  sometimes 
with  blindness.  A  farmer  writing  me  from  the  West  says  that  when  he  tried  to  put  a 
rope  around  the  head  of  a  sick  cow,  which  he  found  standing  with  all  the  symptoms  of 
sickness  presented  by  other  animals  of  the  herd  which  had  been  with  her  in  the  corn  field, 
she  turned  and  fought  furiously.  I  have  seen  an  animal  in  this  condition,  tied  up 
in  a  stall,  rush  forward,  fall  on  her  knees,  and  then,  extending  herself  on  her  side,  suffer 
from  a  convulsive  fit.  In  other  cases,  when  attempts  are  made  to  lead  such  animals 
about,  they  run  forward,  plunge,  strike  against  any  obstacle,  roar,  moan,  grunt  in 
breathing,  and  appear  to  suffer  acutely  if  touched  or  disturbed.  In  other  words,  with 
the  impactions  of  the  third  stomach,  which  is  the  essential  lesion  of  the  disease,  whether 
induced  by  smutty  stalks,  old  indigestible  stalks  that  have  no  smut,  or  other  kind  of  food 
or  poison,  there  are  two  distinct  conditions  induced — the  one  of  stupor,  listlessness, 
vertigo,  and  depression  of  spirits,  indicated  by  the  animals  standing  sullenly  until  they 
drop  or  are  relieved;  the  second  is  a  state  of  exquisite  sensitiveness,  a  hypercesthesia  of 
the  skin  and  system  generally.  The  animals  are  not  only  excited,  but  in  a  state  of 
actual  suffering,  and  die  very  speedily  in  a  state  of  coma  or  in  convulsions.  The  disease 
does  not  last  long.  I  have  seen  an  animal  linger  on  four  or  five  days,  but  usually  the 
whole  course  of  the  malady  is  run  in  twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours. 

An  animal  first  seems  to  show  costiveness,  with  a  dry  mucus  over  the  scanty  excre 
ment  ;  and  although  apparently  undisturbed,  and  even  feeding,  may  be  dead  in  twelve  to 
twenty-four  hours. 

The  diagnosis  of  the  disease  at  an  early  period  of  its  manifestations  is  therefore 
important,  and  it  rests  on  the  knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which  animals  have  been 
treated  and  fed,  (as  the  simultaneous  attack  of  several  animals  shows,)  and  especially  on 
the  observations  of  a  fact  that  I  have  usually  noticed,  that  the  animals  which  have  eaten 
most  ravenously  have  been  the  first  and  most  severely  affected.  Old  cattle  may  some 
times  avoid  the  smutty  food,  and  young  animals  eat  heartily;  the  latter  will  be  found  the 
only  ones  to  die. 

POST-MORTEM    APPEARANCES. 

The  state  of  torpor  of  the  alimentary  canal  of  animals  affected  with  this  disease  is 
indicated  on  opening  the  belly  and  exposing  the  stomach  to  view.  In  the  first  stomach, 


80  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

or  paunch,  corn-husks  and  corn  are  found  in  a  dry  condition.  Sometimes  the  rumen  is 
very  full,  and  gas  may  have  become  disengaged  in  it  so  as  to  cause  a  great  distension, 
which  is  relieved  by  puncture.  The  contents. of  the  second  stomach,  or  reticulum,  are  in 
the  same  condition  as  those  of  the  first,  though  sometimes  mixed  with  some  fluid.  The 
third  stomach,  manyplies  or  omasum,  is  firm,  distended,  and  oil  being  opened  the  food  is 
found  caked  between  the  folds,  with  marked  impressions  of  the  papillce  or  little  eminences 
which  stud  the  mucous  membrane.  We  find  in  almost  all  fevers  a  similar  condition  of 
the  third  stomach,  and  indeed  in  healthy  animals  it  is  that  part  of  the  digestive  organs  in 
which  the  food  is  most  dry  and  packed  preparatory  for  solution  by  the  gastric  juice  and 
intestinal  secretions.  But  there  are  other  lesions  associated  with  this  "caking"  of  the 
food  in  the  third  stomach,  in  specific  diseases,  and  its  existence  without  these  affords 
evidence  of  a  primary  form  of  impaction,  which  has  received  most  remarkable  names, 
such  as  "staking,"  "bound,"  "fardel-bound,"  &c.  The  fourth  stomach  contains  but  a 
scanty  quantity  of  greenish,  semi-digested  matter,  is  usually  reddened  somewhat  diffusely, 
and  the  redness  increases  at  times  toward  the  opening  of  the  small  intestines. 

The  intestine,  usually  replete  with  somewhat  solid  and  imperfectly  digested  food,  is 
usually  high  colored,  especially  in  the  fundus  of  the  caecum  and  in  the  large  portion  of 
the  colon.  The  rectum  is  the  seat  of  ramified  redness,  and  a  consistent  mucus  coats  its 
contents. 

Persons  have  reported  a  peculiar  black  color  of  one  lung.  This  is  due  only  to  stag 
nation  of  blood  after  death,  in  the  organ  nearest  the  ground;  and  the  same  kind  of  con 
gestion  or  settling  of  the  blood  is  apt  to  pervade  other  tissues  and  organs  in  the  side  on 
which  an  animal  has  been  lying. 

TREATMENT. 

I  have  found  the  accidents  resulting  from  the  feeding  of  smutty  corn  to  cattle  very 
amenable  to  treatment.  Almost  all  the  animals  die  unless  relieved,  but  it  is  not  difficult 
to  treat  them  successfully.  At  first  a  purgative  must  be  administered ;  such  as  a 
pound  or  a  pound  and  a  half  of  Epsom  salts,  or  Glauber  salts,  alone,  or  combined  with 
aloes,  sulphur,  or  ginger.  The  following  is  a  desirable  purging  drink: 

Sulphate  of  magnesia 1  pound. 

Powdered  aloes 4  drachms. 

Powdered  ginger 2  drachms. 

Water 1   quart, 

This  is  to  be  given  in  warm  linseed  tea,  oat-meal  gruel,  or  pure  water.  A  pound  or 
two  of  treacle,  with  eight  drachms  of  aloes  or  a  pint  of  linseed  or  sweet  oil,  may  be 
used  when  the  salts  are  not  at  hand.  Cattle  should  be  induced  to  drink  either  plain 
water  or  linseed  tea.  Common  salt  will  create  thirst,  and  for  this  purpose  may  be  given 
in  such  quantities  as  will  not  make  the  liquid  too  salt  to  be  palatable.  Warm  water  in 
jections  are  of  the  highest  importance,  and  for  this  purpose  the  enema  funnel,*  which  can 
be  made  by  any  tinsmith  at  a  charge  of  about  fifty  cents,  is  the  best  instrument  yet  de- 

*  This  IN  an  ordinary  tin  funnel,  capable  of  holding  one  quart,  with  the  pipe  l>ent  at  right  angles,  about  ten  inches 
long  from  the  licnil,  with  the  extremity  rounded  hy  a  mass  of  soft  solder  to  prevent  the  rectum  from  being  injured  by 
the  insertion  of  the  sharp  edges  of  the  pipe.  The  contents  Uo\v  into  the  intestine  by  gravitation. 


ILL  EFFECTS  OF  SMUT.  81 

vised.  About  a  quart  or  two  of  lukewarm  water,  without  any  addition  but  a  little  sweet 
oil  to  lubricate  the  tube  of  the  instrument,  may  be  poured  into  the  rectum  every  half  hour. 
On  the  second  day  it  may  be  found  that  the  medicine  does  not  act  very  freely.  The  best 
agent  to  be  given  then  is  carbonate  of  ammonia  in  half-drachm  doses,  twice  a  day,  largely 
diluted  with  linseed  tea  or  gruel.  Care  must  be  taken  in  giving  this  medicine  not  to  ex 
coriate  the  mouth.  As  soon  as  the  appetite  returns,  a  succulent  diet,  such  as  grass,  boiled 
turnips,  sweet  hay,  &c.,  completes  the  animal's  restoration. 

PREVENTION. 

It  is  evident  that  all  such  accidents  as  these  I  have  described  may  be  completely  pre 
vented  by  not  allowing  cattle  to  eat  indigestible  corn-stalks,  whether  their  indigestibility 
arises  from  age,  dryness,  or  smut.  Mixed  with  an  abundance  of  soft  food  such  material 
may  do  no  harm,  and,  indeed,  has  constantly  been  used  with  impunity  ;  but  losses  are 
very  severe  if  cattle  are  compelled  either  to  starve  or  to  eat  what  may  well  be  compared 
to  broomsticks. 

The  farmer  who  annually  loses  a  large  amount  of  the  produce  of  lands  tilled  at  great 
cost  and  trouble,  should  reflect  that  smut  on  corn  is  an  evidence  of  bad  farming,  and, 
apart  from  the  fact  of  danger  to  the  lives  of  the  animals  on  the  farm,  it  is  most  desirable 
to  extirpate  the  pest.  That  its  eradication  is  possible,  few  will  doubt  who  know,  in  case 
of  other  parasitic  plants,  such  as  the  rust  in  wheat,  how  effectually  the  seed  may  be  puri 
fied  and  a  healthy  plant  obtained  in  a  well-prepared  soil.  Having  fresh  land  to  break  up 
or  old  to  plow  again,  the  farmer  should  plow  deeply  and  turn  over  the  soil  effectually.  He 
should  obtain  his  seed  from  a  district  or  farm  that  is  high,  dry,  well-cultivated,  and  free 
from  smut.  As  the  spores  of  Ustilago  maidis  are  minute  and  in  the  form  of  impalpable 
powder,  thousands  may  be  dispersed  in  a  sample  of  corn,  and  grow  with  the  plant.  To 
avoid  this,  dipping  the  grain  in  a  solution  of  copperas  may  be  found  of  great  service.  The 
copperas,  in  the  proportion  of  one  pound  to  four  bushels  of  corn,  is  to  be  dissolved  in  a 
little  warm  water,  and  then  cold  water  added  to  make  about  a  stable -pailful;  with  this  the 
corn  is  simply  washed,  not  soaked.  Soaking  makes  the  grain  swell,  and  interferes  with 
sowing  in  machines.  The  corn  is  sown  as  soon  as  dampened  with  the  solution. 

JOHN  GAMGEE,  M.  D. 

Hon.  HOEACE  CAPRON, 

Commissioner  of  Agriculture. 

11 


REPORT 

OP 

PROFESSOR  GAMGEE  ON  THE  SPLENIC  OR  PERIODIC  FEVER  OF  CATTLE. 


SIR:  The  transportation  of  northern  cattle  into  Florida,  Texas,  parts  of  Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  and  South  Carolina,  and  the  traveling  of  southern  herds  across  the  grazing  lands 
of  States  northward,  result  in  the  sickness  and  death  of  the  animals  which  come  within  the 
range  of  a  singular  form  of  contamination.  In  Missouri,  Kansas,  Arkansas,  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  the  so-called  Spanish  or  Texas  fever  has  been  the  cause 
of  losses  prior  to  and  since  the  war,  and  more  especially  during  the  last  summer,  and  this 
fact  has  excited  the  most  virulent  opposition  among  the  stock-raisers  of  those  States  to  the 
driving  of  Texan  steers  across  the  prairies.  The  nature  of  this  feeling  is  indicated  by  a  let 
ter  from  Mr.  8.  Morgan  Welch,  of  Waverley,  Missouri,  to  the  Prairie  Farmer  of  the  26th 
of  September,  1868,  in  which  he  says:  "Talk  to  a  Missourian  about  moderation,  when  a 
drove  of  Texas  cattle  is  coming,  and  he  will  call  you  a  fool,  while  he  coolly  loads  his  gun, 
and  joins  his  neighbors  ;  and  they  intend  no  scare,  either.  They  mean  to  kill,  do  kill, 
and  will  keep  killing  until  the  drove  takes  the  back  track  ;  and  the  drovers  must  be 
careful  not  to  get  between  their  cattle  and  the  citizens  either,  unless  they  are  bullet 
proof.  No  doubt  this  looks  a  good  deal  like  border-ruffianism  to  you,  but  it  is  the  way 
we  keep  clear  of  the  Texas  fever  ;  and,  my  word  for  it,  Illinois  will  have  to  do  the  same 
thing  yet.  Congress  ought  to  do  something  in  regard  to  this  stock.  Very  stringent  laws 
were  passed  in  regard  to  the  rinderpest,  and  yet  it  is  scarcely  more  fatal  than  Texas  fever, 
only  the  latter  is  not  contagious  among  our  native  cattle.  Texas  stock  should  not  be 
allowed  to  cross  the  35th  parallel  of  north  latitude  alive." 

With  rare  exceptions  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Indiana  were  not  visited  with  splenic 
fever  prior  to  1868,  and  the  great  reason  for  this  is  that  southern  stock  has  been  slaugh 
tered  in  the  west  by  butchers  and  packers  in  the  winter  months,  and  has  not  been  purchased 
in  large  quantities  by  cattle  dealers  and  graziers,  to  fatten  on  the  western  prairies.  But 
steers  in  Texas  can  be  had  in  their  prime  for  eight  to  ten  dollars  in  gold.  It  has  been  re 
cently  computed  that  there  are  five  million  head  in  that  State  alone,  and  that  the  net 
yearly  increase,  after  allowing  a  discount  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  for  loss  by  disease  and 
casualties,  amounts  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  head. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  sufferings  Texan  cattle  endure  in  being  transported 
by.  steamers  from  the  Texan  coast  to  New  Orleans,  and  thence  to  eastern  or  to  western 
cities  ;  and  it  is,  likewise,  difficult  to  draw  too  vivid  a  picture  of  the  perils  and  anxieties 
of  a  drover's  life.  Energetic  frontiersmen  in  small  bands,  armed  to  the  teeth,  collect  a  herd 


THE  SPLEXIC  FEVER.  ^3 

of  cattle,  varying  from  two  to  twelve  hundred,  and  then  drive  at  the  rate  of  eight  or  ten 
miles  a  day,  through  unsettled  lands,  a  distance  of  six  to  nine  hundred  miles  ;  always 
watching  lest  their  cattle  and  horses  be  stampeded,  or  their  own  scalps  be  taken  by  wild  In 
dians  Storms  and  herds  of  buffaloes  are  minor  causes  tending  to  scatter  the  drover's 
property.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  a  heavy  percentage  of  animals  to  be  lost  from  the 
several  causes  named. 

Notwithstanding  the  waste  in  flesh  and  lives  among  stock  on  the  New  Orleans  route, 
and  the  hardships  to  be  endured  by  drovers  in  the  Southwest,  the  prices  realized  for  Texan 
steers,  on  reaching  the  great  markets  of  America,  prove,  in  many  instances,  highly 
remunerative. 

The  scarcity  of  cattle  in  the  West,  especially  since  the  war;  the  tempting  prospects 
of  utilizing  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  acres  of  open  and  unreclaimed  prairie 
lands;  and  the  constitutional  soundness  of  Texan  cattle,  which  enables  them  individually 
to  withstand  influences  which  are  destructive  to  other  stock,  are  all  causes  which  tend 
to  favor  the  investment  of  western  capital  in  such  stock. 

The  current  has  been  too  strong  for  ordinary  State  legislation;  and  early,  during  the 
past  spring,  a  strong  tide  set  in,  which  brought  large  herds  into  the  West,  through  New 
Orleans  and  Cairo,  or,  via  Abilene,  to  St.  Louis,  Quincy,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  and  to  many 
grazing  farms  between  those  points. 

The  people  of  Illinois  were  warned  by  Mr.  D.  G.  Emerson,  of  Vandalia,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  the  26th  of  May.  Circumstances  have  tended  to  give  a  historical 
worth  to  that  brief  communication.  Mr.  Emerson  said: 

Having  been  a  constant  reader  of  your  valuable  paper  for  many  years,  and  wishing  to  promote  the  general 
good  and  prosperity  of  our  great  and  growing  State,  I  would  call  the  attention  of  farmers  and  cattle-growers  to  the 
following  facts:  While  at  Centralia  yesterday  I  saw  a  very  long  train  of  stock  cars  iilled  with  Texas  and  with  Indiana 
oxen  on  their  way  to  Iroquois  County,  there  to  be  fattened  on  the  rich  prairies  ;  and  I  learned  that  there  were  in  the 
lot  fourteen  hundred  head  of  old,  worn-out  oxen,  bringing  the  Spanish  fever  with  them.  A  writer  in  the  Missouri 
Democrat  has  described  this  disease  as  contagions,  and  says  that  it  causes  the  destruction  of  our  home  cattle  wherever 
these  Texas  cattle  are  taken. 

I  arrived  in  Chicago  on  the  1st  of  June,  the  day  on  which  Mr.  Emerson's  letter  was 
published,  and  wrote  to  the  Chicago  Tribune,  communicating  information  which  had  been 
furnished  me  by  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  and  which  indicated  that,  while  trust 
worthy  and  appalling  reports  of  the  Spanish  fever  had  been  furnished  by  the  people  of 
Kansas,  Missouri,  Kentucky,  and  even  Illinois,  the  Texas  people  were  indignant  at  the 
imputations  cast  on  their  herds,  just  as  the  Russians  were  when  the  rinderpest  was 
attributed  to  importations  from  their  country. 

Although  the  subject  of  meat  preservation  had  brought  me  to  America,  it  was  only 
because  I  had  for  years  striven,  and  to  a  certain  extent  striven  in  vain,  to  secure  rational 
regulations  of  the  cattle  traffic  for  the  prevention  of  contagious  diseases  in  my  own  coun 
try  ;  and  it  was  a  matter  of  deep  interest  to  me  to  find  that  similar  dangers  threatened 
the  stock  owners  of  the  West. 

The  abundant  influx  into  Illinois  of  Gulf  Coast  cattle  was  soon  followed  by  notices  of 
ravages  by  disease  at  Cairo  and  elsewhere;  but  none  were  heeded,  until  it  was  reported 
on  the  27th  of  July  that  Mr.  E.  Richardson,  of  Farina,  had  written  to  Governor  Oglesby 
in  regard  to  the  numerous  deaths  among  the  cattle  of  the  inhabitants  of  his  district, 
and  that  eight  to  ten  a  day  were  dying.  Mr.  John  L.  Hancock,  of  the  firm  of  Cragin 


84  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

&  Co.,  Chicago,  at  once  induced  the  Pork  Packers'  Association  to  appoint  a  commission, 
consisting  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Richardson,  Dr.  Blaney,  and  myself,  to  visit  the  localities  where 
the  disease  had  appeared,  and  report  on  the  matter. 

We  accordingly  started  on  the  evening  of  the  29th  of  July,  and  prosecuted  inquiries 
at  Tolono,  Farina,  and  Cairo,  returning  to  Chicago  on  the  4th  of  August.  On  the  5th  I 
was  requested  to  continue  my  investigations  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and,  with 
the  Commissioner's  consent,  had  the  advantage  of  continued,  earnest  cooperation  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Richardson,  and  Mr.  H.  D.  Emery,  editor  of  the  Prairie  Farmer. 
Both  these  gentlemen  brought  to  tear  a  knowledge  of  the  country  and  the  cattle  trade 
which  materially  aided  me  in  my  inquiries,  and  they  have  favored  me  with  their  advice 
and  assistance  up  to  the  completion  of  the  present  report. 

In  accordance  with  the  instructions  received,  I  aimed  at  determining  the  following 
points: 

1.  The  extent  and  nature  of  the  Texan  cattle  traffic,  and  the  state  of  health  of  the 
Texan  cattle. 

2.  The  circumstances  under  which  these  animals  communicate  disease  to  the  stock  of 
the  West  and  other  parts  north  of  the  Gulf  States. 

3.  The  history  of  the  Texan  fever,  as  it  spreads  over  the  States. 

4.  The  symptoms,  post-mortem  appearances,  and  nature  of  the  so-called  Spanish  or 
Texan  fever. 

5.  The  means  to  be  adopted  for  the  prevention  of  the  disease,  and  the  cure  of  the 
sick  animals. 

My  investigations  have  extended  over  the  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  Kansas,  and  Texas,  and  these  enable  me  to  speak  very  positively  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  disease  and  the  means  which  must  be  adopted  to  prevent  it. 

In  the  present  report  it  is  my  intention  to  restrict  myself  to  the  annexed  heads : 

1.  Definition  of  the  disease. 

2.  Symptoms. 

3.  Post-mortem  appearances. 

4.  Causes  and  nature  of  the  disease. 

5.  Curative  treatment. 

6.  Prevention. 

DEFINITION. 

The  splenic  or  periodic  fever,  commonly  known  as  Texas  fever,  Spanish  fever,  or 
cattle  fever,  and  which  has  been  observed  wherever  and  whenever  cattle  from  the  States 
on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  have  been  driven  north  during  the  summer  months,  is  a  disease 
peculiar  to  the  ox  tribe,  which  has  never  been  described  as  attacking  the  southern  cattle, 
and  which  occurs,  in  a  more  or  less  latent  form,  among  them.  Its  distinguishing  features 
have  been  most  marked  in  the  cattle  of  Georgia,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Missouri, 
Kansas,  Illinois,  and  Indiana,  wherever  these  have  grazed  on  pastures  previously  or  simulta 
neously  occupied  by  herds  from  Texas  and  Florida.  It  is,  so  far  as  we  have  yet  ascertained, 
incapable  of  communication  by  the  simple  contact  of  sick  with  healthy  animals;  and,  in 
the  strict  sense  of  the  terms,  is  neither  contagious  nor  infectious.  It  is  an  enzootic  disorder, 
probably  due  to  the  food  on  which  southern  cattle  subsist,  whereby  the  systems  of  these 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  85 

animals  become  charged  with  deleterious  principles,  that  are  afterward  propagated  and 
dispersed  by  the  excreta  of  apparently  healthy  as  well  as  of  obviously  sick  stock.  It  is  not 
one  of  the  epizootics  proper,  and  in  its  origin  and  distribution  differs  from  the  plagues  due 
to  specific  animal  poisons  which  are  common  in  various  parts  of  the  Old  World  and  the 
New.  The  malady  is  probably  incapable  of  communication  by  inoculation,  and  the  flesh, 
blood,  and  secretions  of  such  cattle  have  been  handled  and  consumed  by  human  beings 
without  the  manifestation  of  untoward  results. 

In  Texas,  cattle  of  all  ages,  from  the  time  they  begin  to  graze,  are  afflicted  with  the 
malady  in  a  somewhat  latent  and  mild  form.  Early  in  the  year  many  animals  die,  espe 
cially  when  the  wet  deteriorates  the  grasses  ;  and  the  mortality,  of  which  any  one  can 
gain  evidence  in  crossing  Texan  prairies  and  seeing  the  carcasses,  is  ascribed  to  poverty. 
It  is,  however,  a  feature  everywhere  that  cattle  do  not  attain  the  same  weight  in  the  South, 
even  on  the  best  grasses,  that  they  do  in  northern  latitudes ;  and  this  is,  no  doubt, 
accounted  for  by  the  uniform  signs  of  irritation  and  even  erosions  of  the  stomach,  enlarged 
spleen,  fatty  liver,  and  sometimes  ecchymosis  in  the  kidneys. 

The  disease  in  its  acute  form  is  characterized  during  life  by  a  long  and  variable  period 
of  incubation,  which  is  generally  of  five  to  six  weeks'  duration.  The  temperature  of 
the  body  then  rises,  the  secretions  are  checked,  and  indications  of  depression  and  list- 
lessness  are  afforded  by  drooping  head,  depressed  ears,  arched  back,  approximation  of  limbs, 
and  indisposition  to  move,  or  to  rise  when  down.  The  fasces,  usually  dry,  are  sometimes 
blood-stained  ;  and  the  urine  almost  invariably  becomes  of  a  dark  port-wine  color,  and  is 
retained  for  hours,  and  then  evacuated  in  inconsiderable  quantities  Frequent  pulse,  hur 
ried  breathing,  and  tremors  are  almost  invariable  symptoms  ;  and,  according  to  the  sever 
ity  of  the  attack,  there  is  more  or  less  paralysis,  which  partially  affects  the  hind  quar 
ters,  the  fore  quarters,  or  both.  From  implication  of  the  cerebellum  there  is  occasionally 
a  defective  coordination  of  movement ;  and,  when  the  brain  proper  is  involved,  the  animal 
either  lies  comatose,  or  is  delirious. 

In  the  first  case  there  is  more  or  less  blindness,  and  in  the  second  a  wild,  staring  gaze, 
and  the  greatest  restlessness.  Animals  recover,  especially  if  from  the  South;  but  the 
communicated  disorder  among  northern  stock  is  extremely  fatal ;  and,  in  many  forms, 
destroys  every  animal  exposed  to  its  ravages.  Death  usually  occurs  about  the  third  or  the 
fourth  day  from  the  time  the  animal  is  very  obviously  sick ;  but  probably  not  for  ten  or 
twelve  days  from  the  first  indications  to  be  obtained  by  the  thermometer.  The  symptoms 
of  approaching  death  are  usually  great  prostration,  the  animal  lying  and  refusing  to  rise, 
retention  of  the  urine,  the  head  occasionally  drawn  forcibly  round,  especially  to  the  right 
side,  and  the  muscles  of  the  neck  twitching  without  much  intermission.  After  death  there 
is  marked  cadaveric  rigidity  ;  the  skin  and  subcutaneous  tissues  are  usually  sound;  but 
effusions  of  serum,  and  sometimes  of  blood,  have  been  witnessed  under  the  lower  jaw  and 
sternum.  The  respiratory  organs  are  commonly  healthy,  but  in  some  cases  the  lungs  are 
somewhat  ecchyrnosed,  and  more  frequently  there  is  partial  interlobular  emphysema.  The 
heart  is  frequently  blood-stained  both  on  the  inner  and  the  outer  aspects.  The  peritoneum 
is  sometimes  ecchyrnosed,  and,  in  one  instance,  was  found  to  contain  a  large  amount  of 
free,  coagulated  blood.  The  digestive  organs,  from  the  mouth  to  the  fourth  stomach,  are, 
as  a  rule,  healthy.  The  fourth  stomach,  or  abomasum,  is,  with  rare  exceptions,  the  seat 
of  distinct  lesions,  viz.,  dark  redness,  ecchymosis,  yellow  granular-looking  eruptions,  and 


86  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

erosions  of  the  cardiac  end  ;  the  pyloric  end  is  of  more  normal  color,  but  frequently  the 
seat  of  extensive  superficial  erosions,  penetrating  the  substance  of  the  mucous  mem 
brane,  to  which,  wherever  an  abrasion  exists,  food  usually  adheres.  The  small  intestine 
is  generally  the  seat  of  punctiform  or  ramified  redness  throughout  its  whole  extent ;  and 
blood  extravasations  are  common  in  the  caecum,  colon,  and  rectum.  The  liver  is  often 
congested,  and  the  gall-bladder  distended  with  viscid  bile.  The  spleen  is  two,  three,  or 
even  five  times  its  natural  size  ;  and,  according  to  the  duration  and  severity  of  the  attack, 
is  more  or  less  broken  up  and  disintegrated  in  its  internal  structure.  In  one  case  the 
spleen  had  given  way  at  its  base,  and  hemorrhage  had  taken  place  into  the  peritoneum. 
The  kidneys  and  suprarenal  capsules  are  usually  congested.  The  mucous  membrane  of 
the  urethra,  at  its  origin  in  the  pelves  of  the  renal  lobules,  is  often  the  seat  of  extensive 
ecchymosis.  The  urinary  bladder  is  usually  very  much  distended  with  bloody  urine,  which 
never  coagulates  spontaneously,  and  only  under  the  action  of  heat  and  nitric  acid.  The 
constant  and  pathognomonic  lesion  of  this  disease  is  the  enlargement  and  even  disintegra 
tion  of  the  spleen,  with  redness  and  erosion  of  the  stomach.  The  blood  is  always  more  or 
less  affected,  being  anaemic,  and  the  functions  of  nutrition  are  disturbed.  In  its  course  in 
the  South,  it  resembles  the  periodic  fevers  of  man  ;  is  usually  sub-acute  in  form,  and  varies 
in  intensity  at  different  times. 

I  propose  to  designate  this  disease  the  Splenic  Fever  of  Cattle,  for  the  reason  that 
the  disease  is  readily  distinguished,  as  a  rule,  by  the  enlargement  of  the  spleen,  coupled, 
no  doubt,  with  other  lesions.  It  is  an  enzootic  disease,  allied  and  corresponding  to 
the  endemic  periodic  fevers  of  man,  for  which  the  Southern  States  are  remarkable  ;  and 
it  may  be  deemed  prudent  to  use  a  more  general  expression  than  splenic  fever,  viz.,  that 
of  periodic  fever  of  cattle.  Splenic  fever  is  readily  prevented,  in  all  cattle  north  of  the 
Gulf  States,  by  withdrawing  them,  during  the  summer  months,  from  the  pastures  and 
roads  on  which  southern  cattle  have  traveled  and  fed.  The  prevention  of  the  disease  in 
Texas  would  call  for  a  further  and  more  extended  inquiry  into  all  the  local  causes  in  oper 
ation  ;  but,  generally  speaking,  the  condition  of  soils  and  grasses  might  be  altered  by 
thorough  cultivation,  drainage,  deep  plowing,  &c.  In  Texas  I  have  found  that  feeding  on 
corn  tends  to  modify  the  conditions  of  cattle,  and  to  invigorate  their  constitutions;  and  much 
may  be  expected  from  the  corn-feeding  system  only  recently  introduced  on  a  comprehen 
sive  scale. 

No  specific  means  of  cure  have  been  discovered  for  the  malady  :  and  palliative  meas 
ures  consist  in  allowing  animals,  which  suffer  from  the  acute  form  of  the  disease,  abundant 
mucilaginous  drinks,  neutral  salts,  and  occasional  diffusible  stimulants.  Animals  have 
recovered  when  left  to  nature,  as,  indeed,  also  when  they  have  been  profusely  bled  and 
purged. 

SYMPTOMS. 

Splenic  or  periodic  fever  evidently  occurs  in  two  forms,  and  its  course  may  be  sub 
divided  into  four  stages. 

The  first  form  is  insidious,  latent,  arfd  usually  the  most  fatal  one.  There  are  few  fevers 
that  do  not,  at  times,  attack  animals  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  so  little  general  disturb- 
ance'as  to  prevent  their  recognition  in  the  living  animal.  Cases  of  this  description  occur 
in  rinderpest.  I  have  alluded  to  them  in  my  official  report  on  the  lung  plague,  the  con- 


THE  SI'LKNIC  FEVElt.  37 

tagious  bovine  pleuropneumonia  of  Europe,  and  have  witnessed  them  in  outbreaks  of 
small-pox  in  sheep  ;  but  in  enzootic  maladies,  and  especially  in  the  various  forms  of  anthrax, 
it  is  not  unfrequently  found  in  post-mortems  of  animals  from  districts  where  such  diseases 
arise,  that  the  healthiest  and  strongest  have  suffered  or  are  suffering  organic  changes 
which  a  special  systemic  vigor  or  constitutional  resistance  hides  so  long  as  the  animals  are 
in  life. 

Whether  we  study  the  malady  as  seen  by  me  in  Texas,  or  on  Smoky  Hill,  in  Kansas, 
where  a  sudden  shock  to  the  system  of  a  steer,  on  the  occasion  of  its  being  stampeded, 
developed  symptoms  and  induced  death;  or  look  to  the  other  animals,  apparently  fresh 
and  grazing,  which  indicated  an  abnormally  high  temperature  of  the  body,  it  is  evident 
that  a  large  herd,  traveling  from  the  region  whence  splenic  fever  is  propagated,  carries 
not  only  the  active  cause  of  such  propagation  in  the  systems  of  animals  composing  it,  but 
the  evidence  of  specific  disease  induced,  which  remains  for  an  indefinite  time  latent  and 
unobserved. 

During  the  early  part  of  our  investigations  we  could  not  fail  to  be  forcibly  struck  by 
the  apparently  healthy  condition  of  the  vast  herds  of  Texan  steers  which  had  scattered  a 
most  deadly  poison  on  the  pastures  of  Illinois  and  Indiana;  and  even  our  dissections,  limited 
as  they  necessarily  were,  failed  to  elicit  the  truth.  But  the  inspection  of  vast  numbers 
of  Texan  cattle  in  Kansas  and  in  the  Chicago  slaughter-houses  has  proved  that  appear 
ances  may  be  very  deceptive;  and  I  consider  that  the  abnormal  weight  of  the  spleen  in 
southern  cattle,  coupled,  as  such  an  indication  is,  with  gastric  redness  and  erosions,  pale 
blood,  and  the  not  unfrequent  presence  of  bloody  urine  in  the  bladder,  demonstrates  that 
splenic  fever  often,  and  indeed  usually,  occurs  in  a  latent  form  among  southern  herds, 
which  communicate  the  disease;  and  none  but  a  trained  expert,  thermometer  and  scalpel 
in  hand,  can  declare  positively  that  any  stock  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  health. 

We  are  almost  warranted  in  believing  that  the  latent  causes  of  splenic  fever  are 
recognizable  by  the  elevation  of  temperature;  but  this  is  a  symptom  of  all  fevers,  and  it 
is  only  by  studying  this  condition  in  relation  to  many  other  circumstances — such  as  the 
source  whence  stock  is  derived,  the  evidence  of  some  unusual  mortality,  and  the  post 
mortem  indications  of  certain  animals  in  a  herd,  concerning  which  there  may  be  suspi 
cions — that  it  is  possible  to  determine  the  presence  of  splenic  fever  in  its  occult  form. 

The  stages  into  which  any  case  of  splenic  fever  may  be  subdivided,  and  which  are 
readily  recognizable  in  well-developed  instances  of  the  disease,  are: 

I.  The  incubative  stage. 
II.  The  stage  of  invasion. 

III.  The  congestive  or  bleeding  stage. 

IV.  Termination. 

I.  The  incubative  stage. — The  stage  of  incubation  has  not  been  satisfactorily  deter 
mined  in  individual  cases;  that  is  to  say,  it  has  been  impossible,  as  yet,  to  obtain  experi 
mental  facts  which,  as  in  the  case  of  rinderpest  and  variola  ovma,  enable  us  to  state 
positively  that,  from  the  date  of  contamination  of  an  animal  by  the  poison,  so  many  days 
elapse  before  the  manifestation  of  the  disease,  and  that  such  period  cannot  be  prolonged 
beyond  a  definite  and  ascertained  limit;  nevertheless  there  are  important  data  which 
indicate  that,  from  the  period  of  arrival  of  a  Texan  herd  on  any  distant  or  on  any  defined 
pasture,  five  to  six  weeks  elapse  before  the  disease  appears  in  the  indigenous  stock,  grazing 


88  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

with  or  after  the  southern  cattle.  It  is  proved  that  the  animals  may  simply  pass  leisurely 
over  a  road  or  prairie,  feeding  as  they  move  along,  and,  without  remaining  for  any  length 
of  time  on  any  portion  of  the  ground  they  traverse,  leave  behind  them  sufficient  poison 
to  destroy  all  or  nearly  all  the  cattle  which  continue  to  feed  upon  it.  In  such  cases  the 
disease  usually  takes  more  than  a  month  to  attain  its  full  development.  There  are 
instances  on  record  which  seem  to  indicate  that  the  incubative  stage  may  be  shorter,  and 
we  have  met  with  others  where  it  was  reported  that  the  disease  appeared  in  a  week  from 
the  date  of  importation  of  Texan  stock;  but,  as  a  rule  in  such  reports,  the  whole  facts 
are  not  before  us,  and  it  is  not  safe  to  draw  any  conclusions  from  exceptional  cases. 
For  instance,  in  the  Monthly  Report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  April,  1867,  it 
is  reported  from  Osage  County,  Kansas,  that  about  the  1st  of  August,  1866,  the  disease 
made  its  appearance  at  Burlingame: 

The'  first  case  that  occurred  was  that  of  an  ox  which  belonged  to  a  logging  team  of  Hcven  yoke.  This  ox,  on  account 
of  his  breachy  propensities,  was  kept  at  night  in  a  stable  and  watered  from  a  well  of  pure  water.  When  not  at  work 
in  the  day  time  he  was  staked  out  to  grass,  with  a  long  rope.  About  two  weeks  before  he  was  attacked  with  the 
disease  a  herd  of  Texas  cattle  came  along,  and  were  stopped  and  fed  around  him  for  an  hour  or  more.  Soon  after,  the 
rest  of  this  team  were  attacked,  and  all  died  but  one,  which  escaped  the  disease. 

The  reporter  from  Bates  County,  Missouri,  says:  "The  disease  is  never  seen  until  ten 
days  to  two  weeks  after  the  Texas  cattle  have  passed  through  the  country." 

T«xan  cattle  began  to  arrive  at  Cairo  on  the  23d  of  April,  1868,  and  the  first  case 
concerning  which  we  could  get  reliable  reports  occurred  on  the  1st  of  June.  At  Tolono 
the  largest  body  of  Texan  cattle  arrived  toward  the  end  of  May,  and  the  disease  broke 
out  on  the  27th  of  July.  One  gentleman  of  Tolono  gave  accommodations  one  night  to 
three  hundred  Texan  steers,  on  the  25th  of  June,  and  the  disease  appeared  among  his 
stock  on  the  28th  of  July.  At  Farina  two  hundred  and  fifty  Texan  cattle  were  placed 
with  fifty  Illinois  steers  on  the  10th  of  May,  and  the  disease  appeared  among  the  latter 
on  or  about  the  15th  of  July.  Near  Sodorus,  a  farmer  had  his  cattle  grazing  on  the 
prairie  over  which  Texan  cattle  passed  on  the  1st  of  June,  and  his  stock  commenced 
dying  on  the  28th  of  July.  In  Champaign  County,  Texan  cattle  were  placed  on  the  prairie 
on  the  15th  of  June,  and  the  indigenous  stock  began  to  die  on  the  3d  of  August,  twenty 
out  of  thirty-eight  head  dying  in  four  days,  that  is  to  say,  by  August  7th,  the  date  of  my 
inspection. 

Our  experience  agrees  with  the  cases  recorded,  where  dates  are  given  with  some 
care.  Thus,  in  the  Agricultural  Report  for  1867,  the  reporter  from  Oldham  County. 
Kentucky,  says: 

The  24th  day  of  June,  1800,  there  were  driven  on  my  farm,  to  stay  one  night,  about  fifty  head  of  Texas  cattle. 
Some  forty  days  after  they  left,  about  the  Itith  of  August,  the  disease  broke  out  among  my  milch  cows  and  heifers 
and  work  cattle. 

Tims  we  see  that  thirty  to  forty  days  usually  elapse  between  the  placing  of  Texan  stock 
on  a  pasture  and  the  manifestation  of  disease  to  the  stock  owners  of  the  neighborhood. 

The  first  indication  which  attracts  special  attention  is  usually  the  death  of  a  cow  or 
steer.  It  is  evident  that  this  very  imperfectly  defines  the  length  of  the  incubative  stage, 
as  in  all  probability  the  native  stock  is  not  instantly  poisoned,  and  then  the  disease  is  active 
some  days  before  symptoms,  such  as  an  ordinary  farmer  may  detect,  or  deaths  occur. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  eighteen  to  twenty-five  days  are  usually  required  for  the  poi 
son  to  exert  any  marked  influence  on  an  animal's  health,  and  then  the  second  stage  occurs. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  89 

II.  The  period  of  invasion. — My  examination  of  animals  in  apparent  health,  picked 
out  of  a  diseased  herd,  indicates  that  the  invasion  of  the  malady  is  characterized  by  an 
elevation  of  temperature.     Here  we  have  some  similarity  to  rinderpest ;  but  since  there 
is  not  the  same  uniformity  in  the  length  of  the  incubative  stage  in  splenic  fever  that  there 
is  in  the  Russian  murrain,  it  is  probably  more  common  to  find  steers  with  a  normal  tem 
perature  in  a  herd  infected  with  the  former  than  when  infected  with  the  latter  disease. 

The  first  opportunity  I  had  of  testing  this  matter  was  on  the  31st  of  July,  at  Tolono, 
where  we  saw  the  first  animal  of  a  herd,  a  yearling,  lying  dead.  I  began  by  examining  a 
well-bred  short-horn  cow  in  blooming  condition,  and  found  her  temperature  to  be  106° 
Fahrenheit;  second  was  106.5°  P.;  third  106.7°  F.  ;  fourth  106.7°  F. ;  fifth  106.1°  P.; 
sixth  107.2°  F. ;  seventh  106.7°  P. ;  eighth  107.2°  P. ;  ninth  104.2°  F.  ;  tenth  106.7°  F. 

At  Junction  City  I  examined  the  healthiest-looking  animals  of  an  infected  herd,  and 
noted  the  following  temperatures  with  one  of  Cassella's  self-registering  thermometers  : 
First  104.6°  P.;  second  106.6°  F. ;  third  102.8°  F. ;  fourth  107.7°  P.;  fifth  103°  F.  ; 
sixth  102.4°  F.  ;  seventh  105.8°  F  ;  eighth  103.4°  F.  ;  ninth  107.2°  F.  ;  tenth  102.2°  F. ; 
eleventh  107.8°  F.  ;  twelfth  102.6°  F.  ;  thirteenth  103°  F. ;  fourteenth  102.4°  F.  ;  fif 
teenth  102.6°  F.  ;  sixteenth  102.8°  F.  ;  seventeenth  102.6°  F. 

I  examined  three  sick  steers  in  this  herd,  and  found  their  temperature  to  be  respect 
ively  104°  F  ,  107.2°  F.,  and  105.8°  P.  Of  the  apparently  healthy  ones  no  less  than  six 
indicated  a  temperature  as  high  as  or  higher  than  that  of  the  undoubtedly  diseased  animals, 
and  in  all  the  temperature  was  greo.tly  exalted. 

On  Smoky  Hill  we  inspected  cattle  in  blooming  health,  so  far  as  external  appearances 
would  indicate.  We  had  found  a  case  of  splenic  fever  there,  and  determined  to  have  some 
steers  caught  with  the  lasso  and  examined,  with  the  following  result  :  First  103.4°  F. ; 
second  102°  F.  ;  third  103°  F.  ;  fourth  104.2°  F.  ;  fifth  103°  F. 

The  last  temperature  was  that  of  a  work  ox,  one  which  could  be  handled  quietly,  and 
it  afforded  me  an  opportunity  of  noticing  that  the  use  of  the  lasso  did  not  sensibly  affect 
the  temperature.  I  infer,  from  a  considerable  range  of  observation,  that  animals  are  from 
four  to  six  or  seven  days  in  the  process  of  sickening,  from  the  earliest  indication  of  fever 
heat  to  the  manifestations  of  decided  symptoms  of  disease. 

III.  The  bleeding  or  congestive  stage.     The  acute  or  active  stage  of  the  disease  is 
characterized  by  a  series  of  well-defined  symptoms  which  last  for  two,  three,  four,  and  even 
six  days. 

GENERAL    APPEARANCE. 

The  ears  of  the  animal  droop,  the  gait  is  sluggish,  and  secretions  are  somewhat  checked. 
In  cows  yielding  milk  there  is  a  sudden  diminution  in  the  amount  by  one-half,  more  or  less. 
At  first  the  animal  eats,  ruminates  occasionally,  and  its  paunch  appears  full  ;  but  soon 
there  is  a  disposition  to  lie  down ;  and,  wherever  pools  exist,  the  sick  cattle  are  apt  to  lie 
in  the  water.  It  has  been  said  that  one  of  the  surest  premonitory  symptoms  is  a  cough.  This 
does  not  accord  with  my  experience.  The  depressed  head,  drooping  ears,  arched  back, 
hollow  flanks,  tendency  to  draw  the  hind  legs  under  the  belly,  and  knuckling  over  at  the 
fetlocks  behind,  are  early  and  very  marked  symptoms.  The  skin  is  dry  and  rigid  ;  the 
fa?ces  not  materially  affected  except  in  a  few  cases,  which  show  early  slight  hemor- 
12 


90 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


rhage ;  a  small,  delicate  blood-clot  is  apt  to  be  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  droppings ; 
at  first  the  urine  is  clear.  Many  cases  are,  it  is  true,  not  observed  till  the  urine  is  bloody  ; 
but  the  urine  remains  of  its  natural  color  in  probably  ten  or  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  cases, 
and  is  not  usually  one  of  the  earliest  signs  which  a  veterinarian  can  detect. 

The  visible,  mucous  membranes  are  rather  pallid.  I  have  seen  a  turgid  appearance 
of  the  membrane  of  the  nose,  with  discharge  of  glairy  mucus  ;  but  any  decided  redness  is 
usually  confined  to  the  folds  of  the  rectal  membrane,  seen  when  animals  defecate. 

The  pulse  is  frequent.  In  the  early  stages  it  is  hard  and  wiry.  It  becomes  more 
feeble,  the  artery  is  easily  compressed,  and  in  many  instances,  as  death  approaches,  it  is 
not  possible  to  take  the  pulse  at  the  jaw.  So  far  as  frequency  is  concerned,  I  have  found 
it  to  vary  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  twenty,  arid  even  more.  In  two  cases,  where 
the  animals  were  lying  with  their  heads  stretched  around  over  the  right  shoulder,  and 
stupefied,  the  pulse  was  quite  imperceptible  at  the  jaw,  and  the  heart-beats  numbered  one 
hundred  and  twenty. 

Thermometric  tests  are  of  great  value  in  the  active  stage  of  splenic  fever.  There 
is  a  considerable  difference  between  cases ;  and,  in  all  probability,  this  depends  on 
the  extent  to  which  blood-extravasations  occur.  The  temperature  is  high  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  attack  ;  but,  as  death  approaches,  and  bloody  urine  flows,  it  is  very 
perceptibly  reduced. 

The  annexed  table  indicates  the  ascertained  temperature  of  sixty  cases  : 


F. 

F. 

V. 

F. 

F. 

!•'. 

F. 

P. 

F. 

F. 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

0 

o 

104.4 

106.0 

107.  2 

106.  1 

103.  1              107.  2 

106.5 

107.  0 

103.0 

106.5 

103.1 

106.5 

106.7 

100.5 

106.  0 

105.  8 

107.0 

105.8 

104.5 

104.7 

98.6 

107.4 

104.2 

106.1 

101.0 

104.6 

104.4 

106.  7 

107.2 

107.0 

10G.  0 

100.  7 

106.  7 

102.5 

106.7 

106.  6 

105.0 

99.  0 

103.8 

105.4 

102.5 

107.0 

101.3 

104.9 

105.5 

107.4 

106.7 

104.8 

105.0 

105.8 

98  6 

106.  0 

106.7 

103.6 

104.0 

99.8 

103.  5 

107.4 

106.  0 

107.0 

To  the  touch  the  temperature  of  the  body  varies  much.  It  is  not  at  all  unusual  to 
have  great  heat  of  the  poll,  of  the  ears,  and  horns,  and  of  the  extremities.  At  other  times 
the  limbs,  and  especially  the  hind  ones,  are  cold  ;  and  the  general  surface  of  the  body, 
which  is  hot  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  disease,  has  a  tendency  to  cool  as  death  approaches. 
The  breathing  is  accelerated,  and  sometimes  labored.  In  some  animals,  with  great  rest 
lessness  and  tendency  to  delirium,  I  have  found  the  respirations  as  high  as  one  hundred 
per  minute ;  whereas,  in  comatose  animals,  they  have  been  slow,  deep,  and  stertorous. 
On  an  average,  however,  the  movement  of  the  flanks  has  indicated  simply  increased  fre 
quency,  reaching  sixty  respirations  per  minute  in  some  cases. 

The  nervous  phenomena  are  often  very  marked.  In  some  the  muscles  of  the  flanks 
and  thighs  are  seen  to  be  constantly  trembling.  In  others  there  is  decided  and  continuous 
twitching  of  the  cervical  muscles.  In  nearly  all,  when  an  attempt  is  made  to  walk,  there 
is  evidence  pf  feebleness  in  the  hind  limbs,  which  are  rolled  from  side  to  side  as  the  animal 
staggers  along.  When  lying  down  and  wishing  to  rise,  it  is  found  that  several  efforts 
have  to  be  made  before  the  hind  quarters  can  be  fairly  raised  from  the  ground  ;  and  then,  in 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  91 

attempting  to  extend  the  fore  limbs,  great  difficulty  is  experienced,  and  the  animal  often 
sinks  to  the  ground.  In  one  case,  which  I  saw  near  Tolono,  the  animal  seemed  fixed  to 
the  soil,  from  inability  to  direct  its  muscles.  With  assistance  it  was  got  up,  and  its  fore 
legs  were  propped  out;  but,  when  driven,  the  action  of  its  limbs  was  quite  irregular,  and 
the  animal  faltered  along,  to  drop  again  almost  immediately.  This  inability  to  control 
the  voluntary  muscles,  this  defective  coordination  of  movement,  prevails  in  a  less  degree 
in  a  considerable  number  of  cases.  Great  listlessness  and  even  stupor  are  very  common 
indications  of  early  death.  The  most  singular  manifestations  of  these  conditions  occurred 
in  two  cows.  One  was  lying  with  her  head  forcibly  drawn  upon  the  right  shoulder,  and 
the  cervical  muscles  twitching  as  in  a  severe  attack  of  chorea.  In  another  the  animal 
had  the  same  position  of  the  head  and  jerking  of  the  muscles  ;  but  she  was  lying  motion 
less  on  her  belly,  with  all  four  legs  sprawling,  as  if  they  had  yielded  and  slipped  out 
without  an  effort,  as  the  body  sank  to  the  ground.  The  state  of  the  secretions  is  usually 
a  good  index  in  the  course  of  the  disease.  There  is  little  tendency  to  free  perspiration, 
and  the  only  remarkable  change  of  the  skin  is  cedema  which  distends  it  in  some  cases  be 
low  the  jaw,  or  under  the  sternum.  Hide-bound  and  costive,  the  animals  indicate  the 
febrile  crisis  by  slight  blood-staining  of  the  faeces  and  by  hsematuria.  The  latter  is  com 
monly  profuse,  until  the  animal  is  so  far  paralyzed  in  its  hind-quarters  that  there  is  retention. 

With  rare  exceptions  the  bladder  is  found  distended,  and  weighs,  with  its  bloody 
contents,  ten,  twelve,  or  fourteen  pounds  ;  this,  too,  when  the  animal  has  urinated  im 
mediately  before  or  in  the  act  of  death.  Under  the  microscope  the  urine  presents  no 
tints,  but  only  amorphous  deposits  of  hrematine  and  some  epithelial  cells.  From  first  to 
last  it  coagulates  by  the  aid  of  heat  and  nitric  acid,  except  in  those  cases  where  it  retains 
its  normal  color. 

The  milk  secretion  is  all  but  entirely  suspended,  and  the  little  which  is  drawn  is 
dense,  and  mainly  composed  of  cream.  No  change  of  a  definite  kind  can  be  detected  by 
a  microscope. 

IV.  Termination. — In  the  majority  of  cases  depression  and  listlessness  increase,  the 
pulse  increases  in  frequency,  the  respiration  becomes  labored,  the  animal  heat  reduced  to 
100°  and  to  98°  F. ;  and  the  animal  stretches  out  on  the  ground,  on  which  it  has  been 
lying  motionless  for  some  time,  and  dies  without  a  struggle. 

In  exceptional  cases  the  febrile  symptoms  subside,  the  secretion  of  milk  in  cows  is 
restored,  the  color  of  the  urine  becomes  paler  and  paler,  till  it  is  normal,  and  the  animal 
recovers  in  ten  days  or  a  fortnight,  indicating  its  previous  condition  only  by  a  stiffness  of 
gait  and  considerable  emaciation.  A  month  or  six  weeks  is  required  before  evidence  of 
thriving  is  obtained. 

I  have  seen  animals  in  apparently  a  convalescent  state  and  manifesting  considerable 
appetite  ;  after  distending  their  stomachs  on  grass,  they  have  appeared  uneasy,  the  fever 
has  returned,  diarrhoea  set  in,  and  death  occurred  within  thirty-six  to  forty-eight  hours. 
Such  accidents  are  undoubtedly  dependent  on  the  lesions  of  the  fourth  stomach  and  intes 
tines.  They  are  gastro-enteric  complications,  and  not  indications  of  a  true  relapse. 


92 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGBICULTURE. 


POST-MORTEM  APPEARANCES. 

The  structural  lesions  which  occur  in  splenic  fever  are  so  numerous  and  various  that 
I  deem  it  advisable  to  transcribe  the  notes  of  a  sufficient  number  of  examinations  in  sup 
port  of  a  summary,  which  may  be  considered  sufficient  for  practical  purposes  by  many 
who  may  refer  to  this  report. 

That  form  of  splenic  fever  which  is  mostly  latent,  and  seen  among  southern  cattle,  is 
not  recognizable  after  death  by  the  condition  of  skin,  muscular  system,  or,  in  many  cases, 
even  by  the  mucous  membrane,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  the  stomach.  More  or  less, 
however,  the  blood  extravasations,  congestions,  and  blood-stained  urine  have  been  found  ; 
but  these  would  very  rarely  have  been  noticed  but  for  the  plan,  suggested  by  me, of  inspect 
ing  all  slaughtered  cattle,  and  carefully  weighing  the  spleens. 

Dr.  Rauch,  the  medical  officer  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  no  sooner  ascertained  my  wishes 
than  he  arranged  for  the  supervision  of  all  slaughter-houses  in  Chicago,  and  for  weighing, 
in  the  first  instance,  all  the  spleens,  and,  later,  all  the  livers  as  well  as  spleens  of  slaugh 
tered  cattle.  To  Dr.  Ranch's  energy  and  care  we  are,  therefore,  indebted  for  facts  which 
none  but  a  medical  health  officer,  armed  with  the  necessary  powers,  could  well  have 
obtained.  As  the  tables  can  serve  only  for  purposes  of  reference,  it  has  been  thought 
proper  to  publish  them  in  an  appendix ;  but  the  facts  brought  to  light  admit  of  being 
readily  stated,  and  it  is  due  to  Dr.  Rauch  that  I  should  quote  his  report  to  the  board  of 
health  of  Chicago,  read  on  the  18th  of  September,  in  demonstration  of  the  valuable  conclu 
sions  he  was  enabled  to  show  very  shortly  after  adopting  this  method  of  observation. 

The,  weight,  feel,  and  texture  of  the  spleen  and  the  condition  of  the  urine  have,  been  found  to  bo  almost  infallible 
in  diagnosing  the  disease.  Since  the  investigation  commenced  over  two  thousand  spleens  have  been  weighed.  During 
the  first  few  days  of  the  investigation  the  spleens  only  were  weighed,  but  as  your  committee-  began  better  to  compre 
hend  the  importance  of  the  questions  involved,  and  the  value  of  the  facts  to  be  learned,  the  livers  were  also  ordered  to 
be  examined  at  the  same  time.  Of  these  about  live  hundred  have  already  been  weighed.  The  committee  have  only 
had  time  to  present  the  average  of  the  three  different  kinds  of  cattle  slaughtered  here. 


175  native 
spleens. 

175  Texan 
spleens. 

175Cherokce(?) 
spleens. 

175  native 
livers. 

175  Texan 
livers. 

175  Cherokee  (?) 

livers. 

Aggregate  weight 

Pounds. 
260 

Pounds. 
441 

rounds. 

382| 

Pounds. 
2  2271 

Pounds. 
2,  1321 

Pounds. 

1,  87  8i 

A  verage  ....  .            

1  48 

2  52 

2  18 

12  72 

12.18 

10.73 

The  above  were  taken  indiscriminately,  and  do  not  include  any  of  the  marked  cases  that  have  fallen  under  our  ob 
servation.  During  the  past  week  spleens  have  been  found  in  Texan  and  in  Cherokee  cattle  that  were  as  much  disorgan 
ized  as  any  that  were  found  in  the  native  cattle  that  died  from  the  disease.  The  important  part  that  the,  spleen  performs 
in  the  economy  of  cattle  will  be  better  appreciated  when  it  is  recollected  that  its  enlargement  and  disorganization  are 
always  present  in  this  disease,  while  the  condition  of  the  other  organs  may  be  regarded  as  concomitant.  The  liver 
was  at  one  time  supposed  to  show  evidences  of  enlargement  and  increase  of  weight  in  this  disease,  but  this  does  by  no 
means  necessarily  follow,  as  in  some  of  the  most  marked  cases  no  change  whatever  in  the  size  of  the  liver  was  percep 
tible.  In  fact,  as  a  general  rule,  it  has  been  found  that,  whenever  the  animal  was  in  a  good  condition,  the  spleen 
weighed  less  and  the  liver  more  than  when  the  opposite  was  the  case.  It  was  also  noticed  that  in  the  animals  which 
had  been  driven  or  transported  a  great  distance  the  spleen  weighed  more  in  proportion  than  the  liver.  When  the  ani 
mal  is  in  good  condition  the  liver  is  large ;  when  there  is  a  depressed  or  lower  condition  of  vitality  the  spleen  is  enlarged. 

The  annexed  table  gives  the  results  of  calculations  based  on  the  tables  in  the  appen 
dix  ;  and  it  is  safe  to  draw  conclusions  after  the  careful  examination  of  no  less  than  4,739 


TUE  SPLENIC  PEVEE. 


93 


cases.  These  indicate  that  the  average  weights  of  spleens  are  in  excess  in  southern  cat 
tle  over  those  observed  among  western  steers,  the  excess  amounting  from  a  half  to  up 
ward  of  one  pound.  Many  of  the  Texan  cattle  had  spleens  weighing  over  three  pounds. 
Some  of  the  so-called  Cherokee  cattle  might  be  from  the  Indian  Nation,  near  the  Texan 
frontier,  but  few  were  from  the  Cherokee  Nation,  and  many,  no  doubt,  were  from  Texas. 
This  will  explain  the  note  of  interrogation  I  have  used  wherever  the  term  Cherokee  has 
been  used,  in  accordance  with  the  information  that  has  been  tendered  to  me. 

It  is  very  important  to  notice  that  the  earlier  observations  in  August,  when  the  spleens 
alone  were  weighed,  brought  out  a  greater  indication  of  deviations  from  health  in  the 
spleens  of  southern  cattle  than  those  made  subsequently.  Thus  the  averages  were— 


Native. 

Cherokee  (?) 

Texan. 

1.38 

2.36 

2.83 

1.45 

1.942 

2.531 

It  is  much  to  be  desired  that  the  weights  of  internal  organs  be  better  determined  in 
future  in  all  enzootic  diseases  and  during  all  seasons.  This  field  of  inquiry  promises  ample 
and  valuable  results. 


!  Cattle    in  which 

Native  western  cattle. 

Cherokee  (?)  cattle.                 Texan  cattle. 

General  totals. 

the  spleens  alone, 

were  weighed. 

2 

d 

aC 

£ 

1      |     £ 

£ 

ci 

s 

09 

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OE     * 

X 
%   V 

oc 

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z 

1       i    *l     | 

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u 

gj 

"3| 

's  "^ 

T. 

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T. 

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QO 

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§ 

23 

~. 

1 

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t-         ^ 

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"->' 

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s 

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1-                  rH 

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JAs. 

£6«. 

Lbs. 

/As. 

i6«. 

its. 

Lbs. 

i6». 

X/^. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

ids. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Jy6«. 

Total  weight,  spleens 

375J 

1,4411 

1,  963} 

577} 

241 

1.034J 

1,  109} 

69} 

701 

3,  780} 

1,  853.  25 

1,  879J     183J  !  301} 

sto 

Average  

1.46 

1.  424 

1.467 

1.60 

1.  585 

2.345 

2.259 

2.387 

2.675 

1.45 

1.942 

2.503 

1.39 

2.37 

3.86 

Total  weight,  livers. 

2,929 

12,  3(il} 

16,  679i 

3,  731 

1,611 

4,  702} 

6,070 

360 

3,139 

31,970} 

10,  044} 

9,569 

Average  

11.39 

12.  215 

12.  466 

10.335 

10.6 

10.66 

12.36 

12.  413 

11.  98       12.  263 

10.529 

12.236 

The  examination,  after  death,  of  cattle  in  Illinois,  Indiana,  Missouri,  and  Kansas 
indicates  that  the  usual  post-mortem  appearances,  in  well-marked  cases  of  splenic  fever, 
are  as  follows : 

The  skin,  very  often  infested  with  ticks,  is  occasionally  seen  studded  with  dried  drops 
of  blood,  as  if  the  animal  had  sweated  blood  in  dying  Then  small  blood  clots  have 
been  found  freely  distributed  over  the  neck,  trunk,  and  limbs,  and  especially  between  the 
thighs. 

On  removing  the  skin,  blood-extravasations,  or  serous  infiltrations,  are  sometimes 
found  beneath  the  lower  jaw  and  brisket.  The  subcutaneous  areolar  tissue,  as  a  rule,  is 
pallid  and  not  congested,  as  in  anthrax. 

The  muscular  system  is  normal,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  distinguish  any  devia 
tion  from  the  common  appearance  of  slaughtered  cattle,  if  the  animals  are  examined  im 
mediately  after  death. 


94  DEPABTMENT  OF  AGK1CULTDKE. 

The  organs  of  respiration  are,  in  many  instances,  healthy.  The  respiratory  passages 
are  always  so.  The  lungs,  sometimes  the  seat  of  cadaveric  congestion,  on  the  side  on  which 
the  dead  body  has  been  lying,  are  occasionally  ecchymosed,  and  the  pleura  is  of  a  dark  pur 
plish  color,  over  distinct  lobules  which  are  found  intensely  congested,  but  never  hepatized 
throughout  their  substance.  I  have  not  found  a  single  portion  of  lung  tissue  which  would 
not  float  on  water. 

In  nearly  half  the  cases  the  collapse  of  the  lungs,  when  the  chest  is  opened,  is  imper 
fect;  and  according  to  the  extent  of  interference  with  this  collapse  do  we  find  interlob- 
ular  emphysema.  The  areolar  tissue  between  the  lobules  is  blown  up  with  air;  and  on 
the  outer  aspect  of  the  lung,  especially  on  the  arteries  and  middle  lobes,  a  beaded  and 
streaked  appearance,  owing  to  the  distension  of  the  connective  structure,  is  striking  and 
well  marked.  The  pleura?  are  rarely  found  changed ;  but  occasionally,  scattered  over  the 
mediastinal  reflections  or  on  the  diaphragm,  are  well-marked  ecchymoses. 

The  pericardium  is  usually  empty,  but  I  have  found  it  considerably  distended  with 
bloody  serum.  The  surface  of  the  heart  is  almost  invariably  blood-stained  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent.  The  most  common  seat  of  these  ecchymoses  is  on  the  apex,  or  the  auricular 
appendages.  In  the  right  side  a  small  blood  clot  is  very  commonly  found  in  animals  that 
have  been  lying  dead  for  several  hours,  and  the  left  side  is  found  empty.  Both  ventricles, 
and  sometimes  even  the  auricles,  may  be  found  entirely  ecchymosed ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the 
extravasations  are  most  marked  and  extensive  in  the  left  ventricle,  arid  especially  on 
the  fleshy  pillars. 

DIGESTIVE    ORGANS. 

The  mouth,  pharynx,  and  oesophagus  are  always  healthy.  The  rumen  is  usually  full 
of  food,  and  its  coats  healthy.  The  mucous  membrane  alone  has  been  found  congested  in 
two  causes. 

The  recticulum,  or  second  stomach,  containing  semi-fluid  material,  has  been  often 
found  reddened;  but  especially  in  cows  which  had  swallowed  nails,  wires,  needles,  or  other 
foreign  objects,  that  are  so  commonly  found  in  the  second  stomach  of  cattle.  In  two  cases 
wires  had  perforated  the  recticulum  and  diaphragm,  and  in  one  the  pericardium  was  adhe 
rent  to  the  diaphragm,  and  injured. 

The  omasum,  or  third  stomach,  is  almost  invariably  in  a  normal  condition;  and 
whereas  there  are  some  instances  in  which  it  is  considerably  distended,  and  the  food  packed 
dry  between  the  folds,  there  is  no  appreciable  difference  between  the  condition  in  which 
we  have  found  it  in  our  numerous  dissections,  and  the  state  in  which  we  should  expect  to 
find  it  in  a  similar  number  of  healthy  cattle. 

The  abomasum,  or  fourth  stomach,  is  almost  invariably  the  seat  of  distinct  and  spe 
cific  changes.  On  opening  it,  throughout  its  whole  length  it  is  found  varying  from  a  pink 
to  a  deep  blood-red  color  over  its  cardiac  end.  The  pyloric  end  is  more  commonly  of  a 
natural  color.  But  although  there  is  this  marked  difference  in  the  general  aspect  of  the 
two  sections  of  the  abomasum,  both  present  further  and  very  characteristic  morbid  appear 
ances.  In  the  cardiac  end,  three  different  forms  of  lesion  are  seen,  in  different  cases.  In 
some  the  folds-,  and  even  the  membrane  between  the  folds,  are  studded  irregularly  with 
minute  petechiae  of  a  dark,  blood-red  color.  Each  petechia  is  like  a  flea-bite,  though 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  95 

somewhat  smaller,  and  darker  in  color.  Its  center  is  dark,  and  sometimes  softened  or 
perforated.  The  areola  around  this  center  is  well  defined  and  regular,  offering  a  marked 
contrast  to  the  surrounding  membrane,  which,  though  usually  congested  and  reddened,  is 
not  of  the  same  depth  of  color  as  the  petechial  spot.  In  other  cases  the  reddened  folds 
are  studded  with  minute  yellowish-gray  granulations,  due  to  a  change  in  the  epithelium, 
which  becomes  swollen,  and  has  a  tendency  to  drop  off.  Each  granulation  does  not  usually 
exceed  the  size  of  a  pin's  head.  This  appearance  is  most  marked  where  the  folds  are 
most  congested ;  and  in  some  cases,  where  the  congestion  is  slight,  it  requires  a  somewhat 
careful  inspection  to  recognize  the  presence  of  this  change.  Scattered  throughout  the  folds, 
especially  near  their  free  edges,  we  find  the  third  change,  which  consists  of  marked  ero 
sions,  as  if  the  epithelium  had  been  peeled  off  with  a  sharp  finger-nail. 

The  margins  of  the  erosion  are  well  defined,  and  of  the  color  of  the  surrounding  mem 
brane,  or  they  are  often  paler.  The  center  of  each  erosion  is  of  a  blood-red  or  brownish 
color. 

It  is  very  rare  to  find  the  pyloric  end,  however  natural  its  general  aspect,  without 
some  well-defined  patch,  from  which  the  epithelium  is  stripped  and  a  dark,  granular  surface 
left,  to  which  the  green  food  adheres  more  or  less  firmly.  On  the  pyloric  gland  this  ero 
sion,  as  frequently  observed,  is  of  a  zigzag  form,  and  tolerably  deep  fissures  into  the  mem 
brane  give  to  the  gland  a  shriveled  and  wrinkled  appearance. 

I  have  seen  nearly  the  whole  of  the  mucous  surface  in  the  pyloric  antrum  eroded; 
but  more  commonly  there  are  three,  four,  or  more  isolated  patches,  varying  from  half  an 
inch  to  even  two  inches  in  diameter 

The  duodenum  is  often  of  a  deep  red  color.  Sometimes  its  mucous  membrane  is 
deeply  tinged  with  bile.  At  others  it  is  the  seat  of  scattered  ecchymoses,  less  numerous 
and  regular  than  those  on  the  folds  of  the  abomasum. 

The  jejunum  and  ileum  may  be  reddened  throughout  on  their  mucous  surface.  Some 
times  the  redness  is  in  patches.  It  is  punctiform  ;  and,  in  parts,  ecchymoses  heighten  the 
general  color.  In  one  case  I  found  one  of  Peyer's  glands  somewhat  tumefied,  but  free 
from  any  deposit  around,  and  simply  turgid  and  congested.  The  caecum  is  often  exten 
sively  ecchymosed.  especially  on  the  free  margin  of  the  effaceable  mucous  folds,  so  that, 
when  the  membrane  is  stretched,  it  has  a  striped  appearance.  The  stripes  may  be  of  a 
bright  or  rusty-red  color,  but  are  often  blackened,  as  we  so  commonly  find,  with  blood 
extravasations  in  the  large  intestine  of  cattle.  The  ileo-colic  fold  is  usually  ecchymosed, 
tumefied,  or  of  a  blackish  color.  Scattered  petechisc  are  not  uncommon,  and  the  fundus 
of  the  caecum  may  be  found  the  seat  of  marked,  ramified  redness.  The  general  appear 
ance  of  the  mucous  lining  of  the  colon  is  often  the  same.  In  the  rectum  the  folds  are 
commonly  ecchymosed,  and  we  have  found  free  but  delicate  clots  adherent  to  the  mem 
brane.  The  blackened  appearance  of  the  interstitial  extravasations  is  nearly  as  common 
in  the  rectum  as  in  the  csecum. 

The  liver,  so  often  the  seat  of  chronic  lesion  in  cattle,  such  as  thickening  and  indu 
ration  of  the  capsule  in  spots,  is  often  the  seat  of  fatty  degenerations,  and  is  found  con 
gested  and  heavy  in  some  cases  ;  whereas  the  reverse  holds  good  in  others.  Reference  to 
the  weights  of  the  livers  will  show  that  there  is  no  relation  between  any  distinct  state  of 
the  organ,  as  ascertained  by  the  scales,  and  the  existence  of  splenic  fever. 


96  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

The  gall  bladder  is  usually  distended  with  viscid  bile,  and  its  lining  membrane  is  at 
times  the  seat  of  ramified  redness.  The  coats  of  the  gall  bladder  have  been  found,  in 
several  cases,  much  thickened  by  interstitial,  serous  infiltration,  which,  from  being  retained 
in  the  areola?  of  the  connective  tissue,  had  the  appearance  of  a  gelatinous  mass. 

The  spleen  is  uniformly  enlarged,  as  indicated  by  the  many  observations  noted  in  the 
tables  published  in  the  appendix.  The  weight  varies  from  two  to  ten  pounds.  It  rarely 
exceeds  six  or  seven.  One  of  the  largest  Texan  spleens,  weighing  eight  pounds,  and  found 
by  one  of  Dr.  Rauch's  inspectors  in  a  slaughtered  animal,  measured  twenty-seven  inches 
in  length,  seven  and  one-half  inches  in  width,  and  three  inches  in  thickness  at  its  thickest 
part. 

The  spleen  is  of  a  purplish  color,  its  peritoneal  surface  sometimes  ecchymosed ;  and 
on  making  an  incision  into  its  capsule  the  pulp  oozes  out.  A  section  shows  the  complete 
effacement  of  the  usual  granular  look,  which  is  due  to  the  Malpighian  bodies,  so  well  seen 
in  the  ox's  spleen.  The  scraping  with  a  knife  readily  forces  out  the  currant-jelly-like  pulp, 
and  leaves  the  trabeculse  free  and  clear.  In  thirty  notably  diseased  spleens,  Dr.  Mann- 
heimes  found  only  two  in  which  the  trabeculse  were  firm  and  sound.  They  were  generally 
destroyed  and  completely  undistinguishable  from  any  other  part  of  the  tissues  of  the  organ. 

URINARY    ORGANS. 

The  kidneys  may  be  perfectly  healthy,  but  are  most  commonly  of  a  dark  brownish- 
red  color,  from  intense  congestion.  The  pelvis  of  each  may  be  normal ;  but,  in  the  earliest 
stages,  I  have  found  linear  interstitial  blood  deposits  in  the  mucous  membrane.  At  first 
these  are  of  a  bright  arterial  hue,  but  they  become  more  extensive  and  dark  in  color  as 
the  disease  advances.  Whenever  there  is  bloody  urine  in  the  bladder,  the  pelvis  of  each 
kidney  contains  some  of  the  same.  In  one  case  I  found  one  of  the  lobes  of  the  right 
kidney  fluctuating  on  pressure,  and,  when  opened,  it  was  found  to  contain  a  cyst,  distended 
by  a  couple  of  ounces  of  dark,  bloody  urine.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  urinary  blad 
der  is  found  very  much  distended  with  blood-colored  urine.  Its  mucous  surface  may  be 
normal  and  pallid,  but  is  sometimes  congested  ;  and,  in  several  cases,  I  have  found  it 
studded  with  very  minute  ecchymoses,  which  have  existed  either  in  the  fundus  or  at  the 
cervix,  or  have  been  thickly  disseminated  over  the  whole  of  the  internal  lining.  The 
organs  of  generation  are  found  healthy,  and  cows  with  calf  have  always  retained  the  foetus, 
whether  it  was  a  few  days  or  several  weeks  old.  In  one  case  I  found  the  peritoneal  sur 
face  of  the  womb  studded  with  ecchymoses  precisely  similar  to  those  seen  on  the  internal 
surface  of  the  bladder,  arid  in  another,  the  broad  ligaments  of  the  uterus  had  a  marked 
appearance  of  the  same  description. 

NERVOUS    SYSTEM. 

In  all  the  cases  in  which  partial  paralysis  of  the  hind  quarters  alone  was  marked, 
we  found  the  upper  cornua  of  the  gray  matter  in  the  lumbar  region  reddened  ;  and  the 
microscopical  examination  showed  blood-extravasations  and  staining  of  the  nerve  cells. 
This  appearance  could  be  traced  in  all  parts  of  the  cord,  in  cases  of  more  general  paralysis ; 
and,  in  one  instance  in  which  it  was  most  general  and  marked,  there  was  blood-extrava 
sation  outside  the  dura  mater,  beneath  the  medulla  oblongata.  The  gray  matter  of  the 
medulla  was  itself  slightly  blood-stained.  On  opening  the  cranium,  in  one  instance,  we 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  97 

found  the  inner  surface  of  the  dura  mater  studded  with  bright  red  spots,  similar  to  the 
small  ecchymoses  seen  in  the  urinary  bladder ;  and  the  spots  were  distributed  over  the 
whole  of  the  cranial  surface.  The  pia  mater  is  often  congested,  and  the  gray  matter  of 
the  cerebrum  and  the  cerebellum  often  reddened.  The  puncta  vasculosa,  in  the  oval  cen 
ters,  are  very  marked ;  and  the  lateral  ventricles,  in  one  case,  contained  a  little  reddish- 
colored  serum.  Beyond  this  tendency  to  congestion  and  occasional  blood-extravasation,  no 
lesion  was  discovered  in  the  nervous  system  ;  and  both  white  and  gray  matter  were  usually 
firm  and  not  softened. 

SPECIFIC   OBSERVATIONS. 

The  following  group  of  observations  of  post-mortem  appearances,  made  in  the  West 
during  the  investigations  of  the  summer  of  1868,  illustrate  this  branch  of  the  subject 
more  specifically : 

Observation  I,  July  30,  1868. — Red  cow;  the  property  of  Mr.  A.  J.  Moore,  of 
Tolono,  killed  by  bleeding.  Blood  flowed  freely,  and  was  of  a  bright  arterial  hue.  The 
skin  was  removed  and  the  respiratory  organs  first  examined,  and  found  in  a  normal  state. 
The  pericardium  was  opened,  and  its  reflected  portion  was  sound;  the  heart  of  normal 
size  and  consistency,  but  studded  with  puiictiform  extravasations  of  blood  around  the 
apex,  on  the  left  auricular  appendix.  The  right  cavities  were  found  empty  and  normal. 
The  left  were  also  empty,  but  there  was  extensive  discoloration  of  the  endocardium  over 
the  fleshy  pillars  and  the  septum.  It  was  of  an  alternate  purple  and  blood-red  tint,  and 
on  cutting  through  the  endocardium  it  was  found  infiltrated  with  blood.  This  infiltration 
extended  in  some  parts  to  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  depth  beneath  the  serous  membrane. 
The  mouth,  fauces,  oesophagus,  and  the  first  three  stomachs,  were  healthy.  The  fourth 
stomach  contained  a  greenish  liquid,  and  its  mucous  surface  was  intensely  reddened,  with 
the  exception  of  the  antrum  pylori,  which  retained  its  normal  color.  The  folds  of  the 
cardiac  end  were  thickly  studded  with  ecchymoses,  which  appeared  to  have  coalesced,  and 
the  membrane  had  in  many  parts  given  way,  so  as  to  induce  the  appearance  of  small, 
irregular  ulcerations.  There  was  no  thickening  around  the  ulcers,  nor  evidence  of  pro 
gressive  ulcerated  change,  but  the  solutions  of  continuity  seemed  due  to  the  discharge  of 
epithelium  and  death  of  the  subjacent  membrane  in  the  center  of  the  bloody  extravasa 
tions.  The  duodenum  was  of  a  deep  yellow,  bile-tinged  color.  The  jejunum  and  ileum 
were  carefully  examined  throughout  their  whole  extent,  and  found  reddened.  Peyer's 
glands  were  healthy.  The  caecum  was  reddened  around  the  ileo-colic  opening,  and  the 
colon  had  irregular  patches  of  congestion.  In  the  rectum  blood  extravasations  were  found 
all  along  the  free  margin  of  the  folds.  The  spleen  was  of  a  deep  purple  hue,  weight  seven 
and  one-half  pounds;  and  its  structure  was  so  disintegrated  that  a  black  mass  of  pulp 
oozed  out  of  the  incisions,  and  with  the  slightest  force  nothing  remained  intact  but  the 
trabeculax  The  liver  and  gall  bladder  weighed  twenty-seven  arid  one-half  pounds.  They 
were  congested,  but  otherwise  apparently  healthy.  The  liver  afforded  indications  of  fatty 
change.  The  kidneys  were  of  a  dark  color,  and  contained  bloody  urine  in  the  pelves. 
The  urinary  bladder  was  enormously  distended  with  dark,  blood-colored  urine,  and  weighed 
with  its  contents  nineteen  pounds.  The  uterus  was  healthy,  and  contained  a  foetus  about 
a  month  old.  The  brain  and  spinal  cord  were  carefully  examined.  The  meninges  were 


•i 


98  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

generally  congested,  and  the  posterior  part  of  the  cord,  when  cut  across,  indicated  very 
decided  redness  of  the  superior  cornua  of  gray  matter. 

Observation  II,  July  30,  1868. — Cow;  the  property  of  Mr.  0.  B.  Chamberlain,  of 
Tolono.  This  animal  was  also  bled  to  death  and  skinned.  The  thoracic  organs  were  found 
quite  healthy.  The  first  and  the  second  stomach  were  likewise  normal,  but  the  third  was 
somewhat  inordinately  distended  by  dry  food  firmly  impacted  between  its  folds.  The 
folds  themselves  were  sound.  The  fourth  stomach  was  congested  throughout,  but  its  folds, 
at  the  cardiac  end",  were  of  a  deep,  modena-red  hue.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  pylorus  were 
a  couple  of  small  patches  of  erosions  of  the  mucous  membrane.  The  small  intestine  was 
the  seat  of  ramified  redness  throughout  its  entire  length.  In  the  large  intestine,  from  the 
caecum  to  the  rectum,  there  was  a  dark,  inky-looking  deposit  of  blood  along  the  free  edge 
of  the  mucous  folds,  and  between  these,  at  points,  the  membrane  was  considerably  con 
gested.  The  liver  was  much  congested,  fatty,  and  weighed  twenty-one  pounds.  The 
spleen  was  of  a  purple  hue,  its  tissues  undergoing  disintegration,  and  it  weighed  two  and 
one-half  pounds.  The  kidneys  were  dark  colored,  and  the  bladder  largely  distended  with 
bloody  urine.  The  spinal  cord  only  of  this  animal  was  examined,  and  the  gray  matter 
found  of  a  dark  red  color  in  the  posterior  part  adjoining  the  cauda  equina. 

Observation  III,  July  31,  1868. — Two-year-old  steer;  the  property  of  Mr.  Matthews, 
near  Tolono.  Examined  three  hours  after  death.  Marked  cadaveric  rigidity.  Organs 
of  respiration  healthy.  The  heart,  of  normal  size  and  firmness,  was  extensively  ecchymosed 
on  its  outer  surface,  especially  down  the  anterior  and  the  posterior  ventricular  furrows. 
The  right  cavities  contained  a  small  amount  of  blood;  the  left  were  empty,  but  the  fleshy 
pillars  were  of  a  deep  purplish  tint  from  extensive  ecchymosis.  The  mouth,  pharynx, 
oesophagus,  the  first  and  the  second  stomach,  were  healthy.  The  third  stomach  was 
considerably  distended  by  dry  food.  The  fourth  stomach  was  the  seat  of  diffuse  redness 
over  its  entire  mucous  surface,  but  the  depth  of  color  was  greatest  at  the  cardiac  end. 
Freely  dispersed  over  the  surface  were  small,  circumscribed  erosions  with  red  areolse  round 
them ;  and  these  evidently  resulted  from  ecchymotic  patches,  which  sloughed  in  their  cen 
ters.  In  the  pyloric  end  were  several  irregular  patches  of  cuticular  degenerations.  The 
green  contents  of  the  stomach  adhered  to  the  denuded  surfaces.  The  jejunum  was  the 
seat  of  ramified  redness  over  its  mucous  surface,  and  a  similar  congestion  partially  affected 
the  ileum  and  large  intestine.  The  liver  was  normal  in  size  and  general  aspect.  The 
spleen  was  of  a  dark  purple  tint,  about  three  times  its  natural  size,  and  its  pulp  softened. 
The  kidneys  were  turgid  with  blood,  and  the  urinary  bladder  was  much  distended  with 
bloody  urine. 

Observation  IV,  August  1,  1868. — Seven-year-old  steer;  the  property  of  Mr  L.  D. 
Ayers,  of  Farina.  This  animal  was  first  seen  ill  on  Thursday,  the  30th  of  July,  and  died  at 
noon  on  the  1st  of  August.  Respiratory  passages  healthy.  On  opening  the  chest  it  was 
noticed  that  the  lungs  were  only  partially  collapsed.  They  had  rather  a  blanched  appear 
ance,  and,  on  removal  from  the  chest,  it  was  found  that  through  the  posterior  lobes,  and 
all  along  the  upper  aspect  to  the  anterior  lobes  of  the  lungs,  there  was  well-marked  inter- 
lobular  emphysema.  Incisions  in  various  parts  of  the  emphysematous  tissue  presented 
the  normal  aspect,  of  the  lobules,  with  free  extravasation  of  air  in  the  connective  tissue 
around  them.  The  lungs  weighed  fifteen  pounds.  The  mediastinal  reflections  of  the 
pleura  were  closely  studded  with  ecchymoses,  and  the  same  appearance  pervaded  the 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  99 

pleural  portions  of  the  same  membrane.  The  pericardial  sac  contained  a  little  yellow 
serum;  and  the  heart,  of  normal  size,  was  extensively  ecchymosed  around  the  base  of 
both  ventricles.  The  right  side  contained  a  small  quantity  of  partially  clotted  blood; 
and  the  left  ventricle,  also  containing  a  little  dark  blood,  was  the  seat  of  extensive  ecchy- 
moses  over  nearly  the  whole  of  its  inner  aspect.  The  alimentary  canal,  from  the  mouth 
to  the  third  stomach,  was  in  a  normal  state.  The  contents  of  the  third  stomach  were  soft 
and  moderate  in  quantity.  The  cardiac  end  of  the  fourth  stomach  was  of  a  dark  red  color, 
and  its  folds  thickly  studded  with  small  yellowish  elevations,  having  the  appearance  of 
vesicles,  but  solid,  and  apparently  consisting  of  opaque  epithelial  enlargements.  The 
pyloric  end  was  of  normal  color  and  free  from  erosions  or  other  signs  of  disease.  The 
small  intestines,  of  a  pinkish  hue  externally,  were  intensely  reddened  on  their  mucous 
surface.  There  was  general  capillary  congestion,  and  the  ramified  character  of  the  red 
tinge  was  most  marked.  One  of  Peyer's  glands  had  an  elevated  and  somewhat  thick 
ened  appearance.  The  color  was  rather  less  deep  than  that  of  the  adjacent  membrane, 
and  on  making  an  incision  into  it  there  was  no  evidence  of  deposit  beneath  it,  or  note 
worthy  change  in  structure.  In  the  ca?cum  a  very  marked  ecchymosis  surrounded  the 
ileo-colic  opening,  and  several  blood  extravasations,  well  circumscribed  and  limited  in 
extent,  existed  in  the  colon  and  rectum.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder  weighed  twenty-nine 
pounds.  The  tissue  of  the  liver  was  congested,  and  betokened  active  changes  in  the 
shape  of  fatty  degeneration.  The  spleen  was  dark,  friable,  and  weighed  eight  pounds. 
The  two  kidneys  weighed  four  and  one-quarter  pounds,  and  were  of  a  dark  red  color. 
The  bladder  was  much  distended  with  bloody  urine.  Its  mucous  membrane  was  congested 
at  the  fundus.  The  cranium  was  opened  and  its  entire  contents  found  abnormally  vascu 
lar.  On  removing  the  brain  the  dura  mater  was  found  studded  with  bright  vermilion 
blood  spots,  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary  pin's  head.  The  medulla  oblongata  was  healthy 
The  gray  matter  in  the  cerebellum  was  of  a  very  decided  reddish  hue;  but  the  consistence 
of  both  white  and  gray  matter  appeared  normal.  The  cerebrum  showed  very  marked 
puncta  vasculosa  on  making  horizontal  sections  of  its  hemispheres. 

Observation  V,  August  1,  1868. — Red  cow  ;  the  property  of  S.  F.  Randolph,  of  Fa 
rina.  Died  at  2  p.  m.,  and  examined  at  5  p.  m.  Cadaveric  rigidity  marked.  Respiratory 
passages  healthy.  On  opening  the  chest  it  was  found  that  the  right  lung  collapsed  im 
perfectly  ;  it  was  palish,  and  the  seat  of  interlobular  emphysema  on  its  upper  border,  and 
between  the  middle  and  inferior  lobe.  The  left  lung  was  somewhat  ecchymosed.  On  the 
surface  of  half  a  dozen  lobules  there  was  a  dark,  flea-bitten  appearance,  which  corresponded 
with  considerable  congestion  of  the  lung  tissue  within.  The  structure  floated  on  water, 
and  was  certainly  free  from  inflammatory  deposit.  The  lungs  weighed  twelve  pounds. 
The  heart,  of  normal  size  and  consistence,  was  freely  ecchymosed  over  its  entire  outer 
surface.  The  right  ventricle  contained  a  little  frothy  blood,  but  was  not  blood-stained. 
The  left  ventricle  also  contained  a  little  dark  fluid  blood,  and  was  free  from  ecchymoses. 
On  opening  the  left  auricular  appendix,  it  was  found  studded  with  punctiform  petechia?.  Of 
the  alimentary  canal,  all  anterior  to  the  fourth  stomach,  was  healthy,  but  this  organ  was  of 
a  deep  red  color  over  the  mucous  folds  of  the  cardiac  end.  The  antrum  pylori  was  studded 
over  its  entire  surface  with  irregular  erosions,  exceeding  twenty  in  number.  None  of 
these  had  the  granular  surface  or  peculiar  edges  of  true  ulcers,  but  looked  like  abrasions, 
the  epithelium  having  been  removed  and  the  reddened  mucous  surface  more  or  less  dis- 


]  00  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

colored  by  adherent  vegetable  matter,  constituting  the  base  of  the  solutions  of  continuity. 
The  duodenum  was  of  a  dark  yellow  color,  and  the  areolar  tissue  around  it  was  oedematous  ; 
while  the  whole  internal  surface  of  the  small  intestines  was  the  seat  of  ramified  redness, 
with  marked  ecchymoses  scattered  in  large  numbers  throughout.  Some  of  the  blood-stained 
spots  had  sloughed  in  their  centers.  The  ileo-colic  fold  was  blackened  and  tumefied,  and 
the  longitudinal  mucous  folds  in  the  colon  and  rectum  were  stained  with  blackened  blood 
extravasations.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder,  to  all  appearances  in  a  healthy  state,  weighed 
nineteen  pounds.  The  spleen,  of  a  dark  color,  with  a  deep  red  pulp  which  oozed  out  of 
incisions  made  through  the  capsule,  weighed  five  pounds  and  four  ounces.  The  kidneys 
weighed  two  pounds,  but,  with  the  exception  of  urine  of  a  port-wine  color  in  the  pelvis  of 
each,  appeared  sound.  The  bladder  was  distended  with  bloody  urine,  but  its  coats  were  of 
a  healthy  color.  The  cranial  contents  appeared  unusually  vascular,  but  otherwise  healthy. 
The  spinal  cord  was  not  examined. 

Observation  VI,  August  6,  1868. — Three-year-old  cow;  the  property  of  G.  F.  Byers, 
of  Sodorus.  Died  the  night  previous  to  the  examination.  No  cadaveric  rigidity.  Decom 
position  commenced.  On  removing  the  skin  it  was  found  that  effusion  had  taken  place 
under  the  sternum.  The  organs  of  respiration  were  found  healthy.  The  heart  was  some 
what  softened  from  incipient  decay;  both  outer  and  inner  surface  were  the  seat  of  cadaveric 
blood-staining.  The  entire  alimentary  canal  was  found  normal,  and  free  from  congestion, 
ecchymoses,  or  erosions.  The  liver  also  was  sound.  The  spleen,  much  enlarged,  probably 
four  times  its  natural  size,  was  softened  at  its  base,  and  blood  had  flowed  freely  out  during 
the  life  of  the  animal,  as  clots  and  liquid  blood  dropped  out  of  the  peritoneum  when  it 
was  first  opened.  The  kidneys  were  normal,  and  the  bladder  wonderfully  distended  by 
clear-colored  urine.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  this  cow  had  been  noticed  to  be  sick  for 
two  days,  but  discharged  clear  urine  on  the  evening  of  the  5th,  and  did  not  then  appear 
in  a  dying  state.  She  succumbed  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  during  the  night;  and,  as 
the  post-mortem  indicated,  from  hemorrhage  from  the  spleen. 

Observation  VII,  August  7,  1868. — Steer;  the  property  of  Mr.  P.  Harris,  of  Cham 
paign.  Organs  of  respiration  healthy.  General  aspect  of  heart  normal.  Right  cavities 
containing  a  little  blood,  and  free  from  ecchymoses.  On  the  fleshy  pillars  of  the  left  ventricle 
there  were  marked  and  diffused  extravasations  of  blood.  The  anterior  part  of  the  alimen 
tary  canal,  as  far  down  as  the  third  stomach,  was  quite  normal.  The  fourth  stomach  was 
slightly  reddened;  and,  at  the  cardiac  end,  the  folds  were  studded  with  small,  yellowish 
eminences,  as  described  in  a  previous  case.  The  pyloric  end  was  the  seat  of  marked  and 
numerous  erosions.  The  intestinal  tract  was  quite  healthy,  with  the  exception  of  slight 
redness  of  the  mucous  surface  of  the  small  intestine.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder  were 
normal.  The  spleen  was  at  least  twice  its  natural  size,  of  a  dark  color,  and  softened  struc 
ture.  The  kidneys  were  dark-colored  from  congestion,  and  the  bladder  was  very  much  dis 
tended  with  urine  of  port-wine  color.  On  severing  the  head  from  the  neck,  it  was  found 
that  around  the  dura  mater,  in  the  foramen  magnum,  there  was  an  exudation  of  yellowish 
lymph,  studded  with  numerous  confluent  petechia?  of  a  very  dark  color.  On  removing 
the  brain  it  was  found  of  normal  consistence.  The  spinal  cord  in  the  dorsal  and  the  lum 
bar  region  was  reddened,  especially  in  the  posterior  horns  of  its  gray  matter. 

Observation  VHI,  August  7,  1868. — Steer;  also  the  property  of  Mr.  P.  Harris,  of 
Champaign.  Killed  for  the  purpose  of  dissection.  Organs  of  respiration  healthy  through- 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  101 

out.  Heart  slightly  ecchymosed  on  the  outer  surface  of  the  ventricles.  The  right  side 
contained  a  small  quantity  of  fluid  blood,  with  slender  clots  somewhat  adherent  to  the 
auriculo-ventricular  valves.  Left  ventricle  empty  and  healthy.  Pharynx,  gullet,  the  first 
and  the  second  stomach,  healthy.  The  third  stomach  impacted  with  dry  food.  The  fourth 
stomach  of  a  deep  red  color  over  its  cardiac  folds,  and  studded  somewhat  with  small,  gray 
ish  eminences  of  the  size  of  ordinary  pins'  heads.  The  mucous  surface  of  the  pyloric  end, 
wherever  it  was  whole,  was  of  normal  color ;  hut  it  was  freely  spotted  with  very  distinct 
erosions  of  irregular  shape,  dark  in  the  center  ;  and  the  largest  of  these  was  on  the  pyloric 
gland,  and  extending  on  the  transverse  fold  at  the  pyloric  opening.  The  duodenum,  and 
indeed  the  entire  small  intestine,  was  found  with  the  mucous  surface  congested.  The 
caecum,  colon,  and  rectum,  throughout  their  entire  length,  were  reddened  within,  and  ecchy- 
moses  were  freely  distributed  over  their  whole  interior.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder  were 
normal.  The  spleen  was  dark  colored,  soft,  and  thrice  its  natural  size.  The  kidneys  were 
somewhat  congested,  and  the  urinary  bladder,  though  presenting  no  abnormal  appearance 
of  its  coats,  was  distended  with  bloody  urine. 

Observation  IX,  August  8,  1868. — Small  two-year-old  steer;  the  property  of  Mr. 
Frank  Peters,  Scott  Township,  six  miles  west  of  Champaign;  had  died  the  previous  night, 
and  presented  the  somewhat  unusual  appearance  of  dried,  clotted  drops  of  blood,  each  about 
the  size  of  an  ordinary  drop  of  water,  freely  distributed  over  the  neck,  flanks,  body,  and 
limbs.  Organs  of  respiration  healthy.  Heart  beginning  to  decompose,  but  showing  no  signs 
of  disease.  First  three  stomachs  healthy.  The  fourth  stomach  was  slightly  reddened  at 
its  cardiac  end ;  but  its  folds  were  thickly  studded  with  small,  grayish  eminences,  having 
the  general  appearance  of  a  vesicular  eruption.  The  color  of  the  mucous  surface  of  the 
pyloric  antrum  was  healthy,  with  the  exception  of  two  small,  irregular  erosions.  The 
small  and  the  large  intestine  were  entirely  free  from  congestion  or  other  indications  of 
disease.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder  were  sound,  and  weighed  eleven  pounds.  The 
spleen  was  freely  ecchymosed  on  its  surface,  soft  and  enlarged,  weighing  three  and  a  half 
pounds.  The  kidneys  were  dark  colored,  and  beginning  to  decompose.  The  bladder 
was  healthy  and  much  distended  with  bloody  urine.  The  brain  and  spinal  cord  were 
healthy. 

Observation  X,  August  8,  1868. — Four-year-old  cow,  belonging  to  the  same  pro 
prietor  as  the  last  steer.  On  opening  the  chest  it  was  found  that  the  lungs  collapsed  im 
perfectly;  and  that  on  their  dorsal  aspect,  especially  of  their  posterior  lobes,  there  was 
very  marked  interlobular  emphysema.  The  external  aspect  of  the  heart  was  normal. 
The  right  cavities  were  full  of  dark  blood,  and  indicated  cadaveric  blood- staining  of  the 
endocardium.  The  left  ventricle,  also,  contained  much  dark  blood;  and  its  free  wall,  as 
well  as  the  columns  earner,  was  extensively  ecchymosed.  The  first  three  stomachs  were 
healthy.  The  fourth  was  the  seat  of  ramified  redness  on  the  mucous  folds,  at  the  cardiac 
end;  and  numerous  punctiform  eminences  of  yellowish  color  gave  the  eruptive  appearance 
noticed  in  previous  post-mortem  examinations.  The  pyloric  end  was  normal,  and  free 
from  erosions.  Both  the  large  and  the  small  intestine  were  quite  normal.  The  liver  was 
swollen  as  the  result  of  decomposition,  and  the  gall  bladder  was  distended  with  normal 
bile.  The  spleen,  of  a  dark  purplish  tint  and  friable  structure,  weighed  five  pounds. 
The  kidneys  were  congested,  and  the  urinary  bladder  distended  with  bloody  urine.  On 


102  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

severing  the  head  from  the  neck,  a  considerable  quantity  of  bloody  serum  flowed  out  of 
the  meninges.  The  cranial  contents  were  somewhat  congested,  but  otherwise  healthy. 

Observation  XI,  August  8,  1868. — Three-year-old  steer;  the  property  of  Mr.  -  — , 
of  Champaign.  Killed  by  division  of  spinal  cord.  Organs  of  respiration  healthy.  Heart 
of  normal  appearance,  with  the  exception  of  slight  ecchymoses  in  the  left  ventricle. 
Mouth,  fauces,  gullet,  and  first  three  stomachs  healthy.  Fourth  stomach  of  a  dark 
red  color  over  the  folds  at  the  cardiac  end,  which  were  thickly  studded  with  small,  circu 
lar  ecchymoses;  and,  wherever  these  congregated,  the  epithelium  was  detached,  and  the 
membrane  exposed  of  a  brownish  color.  Many  of  the  isolated  ecchymoses  had  abrasions 
in  their  centers ;  and  the  red  areolse  around  the  erosions  sometimes  spread  out  irregularly. 
The  abraded  surface,  in  various  parts,  had  the  green  contents  of  the  stomach  firmly  adher 
ing  to  them.  The  pyloric  end  was,  to  great  extent,  free  from  congestion,  but  was  studded 
with  erosions  and  zigzag  fissures.  Three  of  the  abraded  spots  were  much  larger  than 
the  rest,  extending  from  an  inch  and  a  half  to  three  inches  in  length,  by  an  inch  to  an 
inch  and  a  half  in  breadth.  Over  the  larger  abrasions  a  scab  had  formed,  to  which  the 
food  was  adherent.  The  irregular  ulcers  of  the  edges  were  red,  but  flat,  and  without 
tending  to  thickening  or  erosions.  The  small  intestine  was  congested  throughout  the  fun- 
dus  of  the  caecum,  of  a  deep  red  color,  and  over  the  whole  mucous  surface  of  the  colon 
there  was  ramified  redness.  In  the  rectum  there  was  blood  extravasation  in  the  substance 
of  the  mucous  membrane,  along  the  margin  of  the  longitudinal  folds.  The  liver  and  gall 
bladder  weighed  twenty-one  and  a  half  pounds,  but  offered  no  sign  of  morbid  lesion,  beyond 
fatty  change  in  the  gland.  The  spleen,  of  a  dark  color,  with  softened  pulp,  weighed  five 
and  a  half  pounds.  The  kidneys  were  turgid  with  blood,  and  the  urinary  bladder  was 
much  distended  by  bloody  urine.  The  cerebro-spinal  centers  were  healthy. 

Observation  XII,  August  11,  1868. — Red  cow;  the  property  of  L.  R.  Hastings,  Chi 
cago.  This  cow  had  been  sick  about  a  week,  and  was  killed,  by  bleeding,  for  the  purpose 
of  dissection.  The  organs  of  respiration,  the  organs  of  deglutition,  and  the  first  stomach 
were  healthy.  The  second  stomach  contained  many  foreign  objects,  such  as  nails  and 
wires,  and  one  considerable  piece  of  iron  wire  perforated  the  fundus.  The  mucous  mem 
brane  was  of  a  dull,  dirty-red  color  over  its  whole  surface.  The  third  stomach  was  healthy. 
The  fourth  stomach,  reddened  at  its  cardiac  end,  was  studded,  over  the  whole  of  its  trans 
verse  folds,  with  grayish-yellow  eminences  of  the  size  of  an  ordinary  pin's  head,  as  pre 
viously  described.  The  pyloric  end  was  also  somewhat  congested,  but  studded  throughout 
with  irregular  ulcers,  four  of  which  were  of  considerable  size,  and  near  the  intestinal  open 
ing.  There  was  ramified  redness  throughout  the  whole  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the 
small  intestine.  The  ileo-colic  valve  was  ecchymosed,  and  ecchymoses  were  scattered  ovei 
the  whole  fundus  of  the  caecum.  The  inner  lining  of  the  colon  and  rectum  was  con 
gested.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder  appeared  generally  healthy,  with  the  exception  of  some 
congestion  of  the  gland  and  fatty  degeneration.  The  spleen  was  much  enlarged  and 
thicker  in  the  center  than  in  any  previously  examined  case.  It  weighed  seven  and  one- 
half  pounds.  Organs  of  respiration  healthy.  The  heart  was  slightly  ecchymosed  on  its 
outer  surface.  The  right  cavities  were  full  of  frothy  blood,  and  ecchymosed  on  the  free 
wall.  The  left  ventricle  was  empty,  and  infiltrations  of  blood  in  and  beneath  the  endo 
cardium  existed  on  the  fleshy  pillars  and  the  septum.  The  kidneys  were  much  congested. 
On  cutting  into  the  pelvis  of  each  kidney,  the  mucous  lining  was  found  densely  studded 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  1()3 

with  ecchymoses,  as  seen  in  the  illustration.  The  bladder  was  filled  with  dark  urine.  The 
mucous  lining  was  dotted  all  over  with  small,  vermilion,  punctiform  ecchymoses,  as  delin 
eated  in  plate.  The  uterus  was  studded  over  its  horns  with  small  ecchymotic  spots,  sim 
ilar  to  those  on  the  inner  surface  of  the  bladder,  as  indicated  by  plate.  The  cerebral 
meninges  were  slightly  congested,  and  the  arachnoid  sac  contained  an  excess  of  scrum. 
The  gray  matter  of  the  medulla  oblongata  was  reddened.  On  cutting  into  the  cerebellum 
its  gray  centers  were  found  ecchymosed,  and  similar  well-marked  extravasations  of  blood 
existed  in  the  gray  matter  of  the  crura  cerebri.  In  other  respects  the  brain  appeared 
healthy. 

Observation  XIII,  August  12,  1868. — Red  and  white  cow;  the  property  of  Mr. 
King,  of  Bridgeport ;  was  killed  by  effusion  of  blood.  The  organs  of  respiration  were 
found  healthy.  The  heart  was  of  normal  size,  but  slightly  ecchymosed  at  the  apex,  and 
the  outer  surface  of  the  left  auricular  appendix  was  of  a  uniform  dark  blood  color,  as  seen 
in  plate.  The  organs  of  deglutition  and  the  rumen  were  healthy.  The  mucous  membrane  of 
the  reticulum  was  throughout  of  a  dull,  port-wine  color.  The  third  stomach  was  normal. 
The  fourth  stomach  was  the  seat  of  diffuse  redness  throughout,  with  an  irregular  abrasion 
near  the  pylorus.  The  small  intestine  was  reddened  in  every  part,  and  the  large  intes 
tine  ecchymosed  in  the  caecum,  and  toward  the  end  of  the  rectum.  The  liver  and  gall 
bladder  were  healthy.  The  spleen  was  at  least  four  times  its  natural  size,  of  a  dark  purplish 
tint,  and  its  structure  disintegrated.  The  kidneys  were  dark  colored  and  congested.  The 
bladder  was  enormously  distended  with  bloody  urine.  The  brain  and  its  meninges  gave 
signs  of  intense  congestion,  and  the  puncta  vasculosa  of  the  cerebrum  were  very  marked. 

Observation  XIV,  August  13,  1868. — Red  steer  ;  the  property  of  Mr.  Joseph  Heath, 
near  Oxford  ;  killed  for  dissection.  Organs  of  respiration  healthy.  Heart  healthy  and 
free  from  petechise.  The  mouth,  pharynx,  oesophagus,  and  first  three  stomachs  were  found 
healthy.  The  cardiac  end  of  the  fourth  stomach  was  of  a  deep  red  color,  some  of  the  folds 
ecchymosed,  and  some  of  the  dark  centers  of  the  ecchymoses  had  sloughed.  The  pyloric 
end  was  much  less  congested,  but  its  entire  surface  more  or  less  abraded.  The  exposed 
vascular  membrane  was  of  a  dark  red  color,  and  the  food  firmly  adhered  to  it.  Both 
small  and  large  intestines  indicated  some  congestion  of  the  mucous  lining.  The  liver  was 
considerably  enlarged,  much  engorged  with  blood,  and  was  fatty.  The  spleen  weighed  five 
and  a  half  pounds,  was  dark  in  color,  and  friable  in  consistence.  The  kidneys  were  con 
gested,  and  the  bladder  was  largely  distended  with  bloody  urine. 

Observation  XV,  August  14,  1868. — Red  steer ;  the  property  of  same  owner ;  also 
killed  for  dissection.  With  the  exception  of  slight  ecchymoses  of  the  pleura  on  the  ante 
rior  lobe  of  the  left  lung,  the  organs  of  respiration  offered  no  indications  of  disease.  The 
heart  was  of  normal  size,  but  appeared  more  flabby  than  in  health.  The  right  cavities 
contained  a  little  fluid  blood,  and  the  column*  carnese  of  the  ventricle  were  slightly 
ecchymosed.  The  blood-staining  of  the  endocardium  was  much  marked  on  the  fleshy 
pillars  of  the  left  ventricle.  The  organs  of  deglutition,  the  first,  the  second,  and  the  third 
stomach,  were  quite  healthy.  The  fourth  stomach  not  quite  so  much  congested  as  usual, 
but  its  cardiac  folds  were  studded  with  very  numerous  ecchymoses,  many  of  which  were 
perforated  in  their  centers.  The  pyloric  end  was  also  somewhat  congested,  but  the  ero 
sions  were  more  marked  and  extensive  than  on  the  transverse  folds  of  the  cardiac  end. 
Near  the  pyloric  opening  were  several  small  ulcers,  to  the  surface  of  which  the  gastric  con- 


104  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

tents  had  adhered.  In  the  intestines,  the  only  lesions  discovered  were  a  number  of  puncti- 
forrn  ecchymoses  in  the  rectum,  especially  near  the  anus.  The  liver  was  fatty,  much 
engorged  with  blood,  and  appeared  greatly  increased  in  size.  The  spleen  weighed  four 
and  a  half  pounds,  was  of  a  dark  color,  and  its  structure  softened.  The  kidneys  were 
of  a  deep  red  color,  and  the  bladder  much  distended  by  bloody  urine.  The  mucous  sur 
face  of  the  bladder  was  studded  all  over  with  small  petechia3  of  a  vermilion  hue,  as  seen 
in  other  cases. 

Observation  XVI,  August  20,  1868. — Red  steer  ;  at  slaughter-house  in  Bridgeport. 
Organs  of  respiration  healthy.  Heart  firm  and  of  normal  size,  was  slightly  ecchymosed  at 
the  apex,  and  on  the  fleshy  pillars  of  the  left  ventricle.  Organs  of  deglutition  and  the 
first  stomach  sound.  The  fourth  stomach  was  slightly  reddened  at  the  cardiac  end  ;  two 
small  erosions,  about  one-third  of  an  inch  in  length,  existed  near  the  pylorus,  where  the 
membrane  generally  was  of  normal  color.  The  intestines  were  healthy.  The  liver  and 
gall  bladder,  to  all  appearance,  normal.  The  spleen,  of  a  dark  color,  weighed  four  and  a 
half  pounds  ;  but  its  structure  had  undergone  little  change,  was  firm,  and  of  a  brighter 
red  than  any  previously  examined  in  cases  of  splenic  fever.  The  appearance  of  this  spleen 
is  shown  in  plate.  The  kidneys  were  slightly  congested,  and,  on  cutting  into  the  pelvis, 
some  bright  ecchymoses  were  found,  as  if  in  the  earliest  stage  of  blood  extravasation  in 
these  structures.  The  bladder  contained  a  moderate  quantity  of  clear-colored  urine,  but 
was  slightly  ecchymosed  near  its  neck.  The  cerebro-spinal  centers  were  healthy. 

Observation  XVII,  August  21,  1868. — Red  cow;  examined  at  St.  Louis.  Killed 
by  effusion  of  blood.  Respiratory  passages  healthy.  On  opening  the  thorax  the  lungs 
were  found  pale,  and  only  partially  collapsed.  The  posterior  lobe  of  the  right  lung  was 
the  seat  of  extensive  interlobular  emphysema.  On  the  anterior  and  the  middle  lobes  were 
several  scattered  patches  of  congestion,  corresponding  to  congested  lobules,  within  which 
were  simple  reddened,  not  solidified,  globules,  and  they  floated  on  water.  The  heart,  of 
normal  size  and  consistence,  was  slightly  ecchymosed  on  the  anterior  and  the  posterior 
ventricular  'furrows.  Internally  the  right  cavities,  containing  a  little  fluid  blood,  were 
healthy  ;  but  the  left  was  tinged  by  ecchymotic  spots  on  the  fleshy  pillars  of  ventricle. 
The  mouth,  pharynx,  gullet,  and  first  three  stomachs,  were  healthy.  The  fourth  stomach 
was  reddened  at  its  cardiac  end,  and  its  folds  studded  all  over  with  ecchymoses.  The 
small  intestine  was  the  seat  of  ramified  redness  throughout.  In  the  csecum,  in  a  line 
with  the  mucous  folds,  the  blood  extravasations  which  had  occurred  were  of  a  dark  rusty 
color ;  and  similar  changes  were  seen  in  the  rectum.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder,  much 
congested,  weighed  twenty-five  pounds.  In  the  liver  were  old  adhesions,  and  some  de 
posits  of  yellow  granular  lymph,  near  the  surface,  extending  in  one  instance  to  half  an 
inch  in  depth.  There  was  also  marked  evidence  of  fatty  degeneration.  The  gall  bladder 
was  the  seat  of  extensive,  ramified  redness  on  its  inner  surface.  The  spleen,  of  a  dark 
purplish  tint,  weighed  six  and  a  half  pounds.  Wherever  an  incision  was  made,  its  soft 
ened  pulp  exuded  without  pressure.  The  kidneys,  paler  than  usual  in  this  disease,  weighed 
three  and  one-quarter  pounds.  They  were  free  from  ecchymoses.  The  urinary  bladder 
,  was  much  distended  with  bloody  urine.  The  cerebro-spinal  meninges  were  intensely  con 
gested.  The  gray  matter  of  the  brain  was  reddened,  and  the  puncta  vasculosa  in  the  oval 
centers  very  marked. 


THE  SPLEXIC  FEVER.  105 

Observation  XVIII,  August  24,  1868. — Black  steer;  the  property  of  Messrs.  Palmer 
and  Perry.  Died  during  the  day.  Post-mortem  examination  at  6  p.  m.  Respiratory 
passages  normal ;  cadaveric  congestion  of  left  lung.  On  opening  the  pericardium,  the  heart 
was  found  extensively  ecchymosed  at  the  base  of  the  right  ventricle,  and  over  the  origin 
of  the  pulmonary  artery.  The  right  cavities  contained  a  little  dark,  semi-fluid  blood. 
The  left  side  was  nearly  empty,  but  on  the  column*  carnea?  of  the  ventricle  there  was  a 
dark  purplish  tint  of  the  endocardium  from  extensive  extravasations  of  blood  in  and  be 
neath  its  structure.  The  digestive  organs  anterior  to  the  true  stomach  were  sound.  The 
cardiac  end  of  the  abomasum  was  of  a  diffuse  red  color.  The  mucous  membrane  of  the 
pyloric  end  was  of  normal  color  wherever  it  was  not  eroded,  but  it  was  studded  with 
twenty  to  thirty  abrasions  of  the  epithelium,  exposing  the  vascular  membrane  in  patches 
varying  from  one-fourth  to  one  and  one-half  inch  in  length,  and  usually  longer  than  broad. 
The  duodenum  was  turgid  with  bile.  The  jejunum  was  extensively  ecchymosed  on  its 
inner  surface.  The  large  intestine  was  healthy,  except  some  extravasations  on  the  rectal 
folds.  The  liver  and  gall  bladder,  of  general  normal  look,  but  congested,  weighed  twenty- 
seven  pounds.  The  gall  bladder  was  distendexl  by  inspissated  bile.  The  gland  itself  was 
softened  by  fatty  change.  The  spleen,  dark  and  softened,  weighed  seven  and  one-fourth 
pounds.  The  kidneys  were  intensely  congested,  but  not  ecchymosed.  The  bladder  was 
full  to  repletion  of  bloody  urine,  but  its  coats  were  normal.  Darkness  precluded  the 
examination  of  the  brain  and  spinal  cord. 

Observation  XIX,  August  26,  1868. — Two-year-old  roan  steer;  the  property  of  Mr. 
Richard  Callahan.  near  Abilene.  Organs  of  respiration  healthy.  Heart  flabby  and  blood 
stained  on  the  posterior  ventricular  furrow.  Interior  of  right  side  unchanged,  but  on  the 
septum,  and  fleshy  pillars  in  the  left  ventricle,  were  extensive  ecchymoses.  On  opening 
the  abdomen  the  peritoneum  was  found  studded  with  punctiform  ecchymoses.  Organs  of 
deglutition  and  first  three  stomachs  normal.  The  cardiac  end  of  the  fourth  stomach 
was  intensely  reddened,  and  its  folds  marked  by  zigzag  fissures  or  ulcerations,  in  the  cen 
ter  of  which  were  black  scabs,  with  adherent  food.  The  pyloric  end  was  of  more  normal 
color,  but  four  ulcers,  about  one-half  inch  broad,  and  of  irregular  shape,  existed  in  its  mid 
dle;  and  at  the  pyloric  end  was  a  larger  spot  of  ulceration,  about  one  inch  in  length. 
The  duodenum  was  much  congested  on  its  minor  surface,  and  diffuse  redness  pervaded 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  jejunum  and  ileum.  In  various  parts  of  the  latter  were 
small,  dark  petechise.  The  mucous  membrane  of  the  whole  of  the  large  intestine  was  of 
a  dark  red  color,  and  the  excrement  in  the  rectum  was  tinged  with  blood.  Through  the 
whole  of  the  longitudinal  mucous  folds  extravasations  of  blood  had  occurred.  The  liver 
and  gall  bladder  weighed  seventeen  and  one-half  pounds,  and  appeared  healthy.  The  bile 
in  the  gall  bladder  was  thick.  The  spleen  was  very  dark  in  color,  its  pulp  soft,  and  its 
weight  was  five  and  one-half  pounds.  The  kidneys  were  much  congested,  and  the  mucous 
membrane  of  each  pelvis  was  spotted  with  dark  ecchymoses.  In  the  peritoneal  cul  de  sac, 
around  the  bladder  and  rectum,  were  numerous  bright  ecchymoses.  The  bladder  was 
full  of  bloody  urine,  and  its  mucous  lining  extensively  dotted  with  small  blood  spots,  of 
a  vermilion  hue.  On  severing  the  head  from  the  neck,  a  large  quantity  of  serum  flowed 
from  the  meninges.  The  meninges  were  dark,  and  of  the  general  color  of  the  gray  matter 
of  the  cord,  and  the  brain  was  much  redder  than  in  health. 


106  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Observation  XX,  September  a,  1868. — Three-year-old  red-and- white  cow;  the  prop 
erty  of  Dennis  Doran,  Brighton,  near  Chicago.  This  cow  had  died  during  the  preceding- 
night,  and  was  dissected  at  3  p.  m.  on  the  5th.  There  was  no  sign  of  decomposition,  and 
the  internal  organs  were  still  warm.  The  organs  of  respiration  were  healthy.  Heart  and 
pericardium  sound,  and  free  from  ecchymoses.  Organs  of  deglutition  and  first  stomach 
healthy.  Second  stomach  of  a  dull  red  hue  in  its  inner  lining.  Third  stomach  normal. 
Fourth  stomach  of  a  dark  red  color  at  its  cardiac  end,  with  various  ecchymoses,  and  half 
a  dozen  small  circumscribed  spots  where  the  epithelium  had  been  thrown  off,  and  the  dark 
red  vascular  membrane  exposed.  The  general  color  of  the  lining  in  the  antrum  pylori  was 
much  less  intensely  red  than  in  the  transverse  folds,  but  was  the  seat  of  several  erosions. 
The  pyloric  gland  had  a  zigzag  ulcer  on  its  summit.  The  small  intestine  was  the  seat  of 
ramified  redness.  In  the  large  intestine  the  longitudinal  mucous  folds  were  all  reddened 
along  their  free  margins  by  blood  extravasation.  The  liver  was  sound,  but  the  gall  blad 
der  was  thickened  by  serous  infiltration,  and  its  mucous  lining  indicated  the  ramifications 
of  the  lesser  arteries  and  veins,  which  were  gorged  with  blood.  The  spleen  weighed  six 
and  a  third  pounds,  was  of  a  dark  purplish  tint,  and  its^pulp  softened.  The  kidneys  were 
congested,  but  not  ecchymosed.  The  urinary  bladder  was  distended  by  bloody  urine. 
The  broad  ligaments  of  the  uterus  were  thickly  studded  with  ecchymoses  of  a  bright 
arterial  hue ;  cerebro-spinal  centers  not  examined. 

CAUSES  AXD  NATURE  OF  THE  DISEASE. 

In  those  parts  where  the  splenic  or  periodic  fever  of  cattle  is  enzootic,  the  prevailing 
influences  are  such  as  favor  the  development  of  intermittent  disease  in  man.  There  are 
parts  more  healthy  than  others ;  and  the  beneficial  effects  of  constant  winds,  a  dry  soil, 
adequate  elevation,  and  the  introduction  of  good  systems  of  culture,  tend  to  make  many 
regions  in  the  vast  countries  over  which  malarious  conditions  prevail  favorable  for  the 
health  and  prosperity  of  man.  In  the  more  swampy  parts  those  diseases  which  charac 
terize  low  and  unhealthy  lands  in  all  parts  of  the  world  annually  recur  with  the  intense 
heat  of  summer,  and  often  extend  into  the  winter  season.  The  bilious  remittent  and 
intermittent  fevers  in  man  are  represented  in  animals  by  the  deadly  charbon  or  anthrax, 
the  black  tongue  of  domestic  and  wild  ruminants,  as  also  by  a  marked  form  of  the  splenic 
fever  which  I  am  describing. 

Texas  and  Florida  have  been  chosen  as  resorts  for  invalids — for  consumptive  people 
during  the  winter ;  and  to  cast  a  doubt  over  the  salubrity  of  Texas  might  lead  any  one 
into  difficulties  in  that  State.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  of  the  State  that  its  acclima 
tized  inhabitants  prefer  to  live  there  rather  than  to  choose  what  might  be  viewed  as  a 
healthier  climate  further  north;  but  it  is  impossible  for  an  unprejudiced  stranger  traveling 
through  the  State  not  to  observe  the  usual  spare  habit  of  body,  the  sallow,  yellowish 
complexion,  and  the  want  of  activity  prevailing  among  the  inhabitants.  There  are 
exceptions  and  exceptional  spots;  but  it  is  evident  that  there  exists  some  condition, 
either  of  soil  or  climate,  unfavorable  to  the  health  of  man. 

I  had  not  anticipated  witnessing  universal  indications  of  a  low  standard  of  health 
in  animals.  Texans  pride  themselves  on  their  herds  of  beeves,  on  the  size  cattle  often 
attain,  on  the  masses  of  fat  rolling  over  the  bones  and  muscles  of  steers  fed  only  on 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVEK.  107 

mesquit,  and  they  look  upon  Texas  as  a  center  whence  the  world  may  be  supplied  with 
beeves. 

There  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  Texas  must  remain  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not 
the  greatest,  cattle-growing  State  of  the  Union  ;  but  its  progress  and  prosperity  demand 
that  farmers  should  be  informed  of  the  conditions  which  are  ever  in  operation  against 
them,  and  they  will  doubtless  bring  their  intelligence  and  industry  to  bear  in  correcting 
evils  that  are  far  from  imaginary. 

Inquiries  as  to  the  diseases  of  Texan  cattle  in  Texas  are  almost  always  met  by  people 
of  that  State  by  the  declaration  that  cattle  are  never  sick  there;  yet  a  "norther"  may 
sweep  down  and  drive  the  cattle  upon  a  narrow  neck  of  land,  where  they  starve  at  times 
for  want  of  food;  drought,  as  in  1864,  sometimes  destroys  thousands;  while  in  the  win 
ter  excessive  wet  destroys  the  grasses,  favors  diarrhoea,  and  unless  the  cattle  can  get  in 
the  woods  and  eat  some  swamp  moss,  wild  onions,  or  other  products  of  the  river  bottoms, 
they  must  occasionally  succumb. 

The  close  of  1868  and  beginning  of  1869  have  been  remarkable  for  an  excessive 
amount  of  rain.  Cattle  have  suffered  greatly,  and  on  all  the  sedge  grass  lands  along  the 
Brazos  starvation  has  not  been  uncommon.  Further  west,  on  the  mesquit,  not  far  from 
Corpus  Christi,  cattle  have  been  in  fair  condition ;  but  some  idea  of  the  scarcity  of  really 
fat  cattle  during  the  winter  months  may  be  obtained  from  the  fact  that,  at  Indianola, 
cattle  for  New  Orleans  market  could  not  be  had  under  twenty  dollars  in  gold.  We  hear 
so  much  of  cattle  being  worth  only  a  few  dollars  a  head  in  summer,  and  people  killing  them 
by  the  thousand  for  their  hides  and  tallow,  that  the  only  reason  to  be  given  for  heavy  win 
ter  prices  is  the  scarcity  of  really  fat  stock,  and  the  great  distance  it  has  to  be  driven,  even 
to  such  a  port  as  Indianola. 

I  have  seen  many  large  herds  of  Texan  cattle  that  had  been  wintered  in  Illinois, 
Indiana,  or  Missouri,  and  have  made  myself  acquainted  with  the  average  weight  of  cattle 
in  Texas,  and  one  most  important  fact  appears,  viz.,  that  a  Texan  steer  will  increase  in 
twelve  months  on  the  grasses  of  a  more  northern  latitude  than  that  of  his  native  State, 
by  one,  two,  or  three  hundred  pounds  over  and  above  the  highest  weight  he  will  ever 
attain  in  Texas.  Let  us  take  the  cattle  fed  on  the  mesquit,  said  to  be  fat  all  the  year 
round — and  where,  therefore,  an  animal  has  not  to  make  up  for  lost  condition — and  age 
for  age,  it  will  take  three  of  them  to  weigh  down  the  Illinois  steer,  and  probably  four.  I 
take  the  best  and  the  average,  and  it  will  be  found,  on  careful  examination,  that  the  cattle 
on  the  noted  grasses  of  Texas,  whether  from  the  soil,  heat,  water,  or  other  cause,  do  not 
attain  the  weight  and  condition  that  the  same  cattle  do  if  removed  to  the  north,  nor  that 
northern  or  western  cattle  do  on  their  native  prairies. 

Texans  are  finding  this  out,  and,  much  to  their  credit,  they  are  introducing  a  system 
of  corn-feeding  that  gives  them  cattle  that  can  compete  in  western  markets  with  other 
corn-fed  cattle.  They  can,  it  is  true,  show  us  some  prodigies  from  mesquit  grounds,  but  the 
average  run  of  grass-fed  cattle  in  Texas  might  be  greatly  .improved  by  attention  to  the 
subjects  of  breeding,  shelter,  artificial  feeding,  &c. 

What  are  the  active  causes  in  operation  which  tend  to  influence  prejudicially  the 
stamina  of  southern  herds?  Traveling  over  the  prairies,  no  one  can  fail  to  be  struck  by 
the  large  number  of  dead  animals  to  be  met  with.  The  dissection  of  these,  or  the  slaughter 
and  dissection  of  the  first  animal  met  with,  reveals  three  distinct  and  unfavorable  mani- 


108  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

festations.  The  spleen  is  enlarged ;  the  animals  have,  without  exception,  the  "ague  cake " — 
the  stamp  of  a  malarious  district;  the  liver  is  fatty,  and  this  is  a  lesion  that  might  be 
anticipated  in  so  warm  a  country;  the  true  stomach  is  reddened  at  its  left  end,  the  membrane 
is  eroded,  or  appears  as  if  scratched  with  a  sharp  nail  on  its  folds,  and  although  there  may 
be  only  a  single  and  small  erosion,  nevertheless  the  trace  of  gastric  disorder  is  there.  I 
have  not  failed  in  a  single  instance  in  Texas  to  trace  this,  and  I  have  opened  as  many  as 
twenty-six  animals  per  day,  weighing  their  organs  carefully,  and  watching  closely  for  these 
signs.  Sometimes  the  scars  of  old  ulcers  are  more  marked  than  the  erosions  on  the  mucous 
folds,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  there  traces  of  ancient  lesions  about  the  pylorus,  or 
intestinal  opening. 

My  observations  extend  further.  From  the  earliest  age  that  the  calf  feeds  on  grass, 
to  the  oldest  that  a  bullock  attains,  the  morbid  lesions  alluded  to  arc  found.  They  grow 
better  and  worse,  and,  in  dissecting  a  dozen  animals,  one  or  two  will  be  found  to  have 
blood  extravasations,  of  a  very  limited  and  delicate  character,  in  the  pelvis  of  the  kidney, 
in  the  urinary  bladder,  and  in  the  intestinal  mucous  membrane.  During  the  summer,  so 
far  as  I  can  learn,  more  than  at  any  other  season,  a  few  bullocks  in  a  herd  may  be  seen  to 
droop  behind,  and  void  bloody  urine.  Mr.  Louis  Brandt,  now  a  practicing  veterinarian 
in  New  York,  who  lived  twelve  years  in  Texas,  often  witnessed  these  symptoms;  and 
persons  engaged  in  shipping  large  quantities  of  cattle  throughout  the  year  have  told  me 
that  they  have  at  times  seen  the  symptoms. 

It  is  difficult  to  get  at  the  truth;  but  from  personal  observation,  and  very  careful  and 
numerous  inquiries,  I  am  in  a  position  to  state  that  almost  if  not  quite  universally,  in  the 
States  bordering  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  for  a  distance  of  at  least  two  or  three  hundred 
miles  inland,  the  cattle  do  not  attain  the  full  weight  they  can  and  do  reach  elsewhere ; 
that  they  very  commonly  appear  in  blooming  health,  and  are  usually  free  from  acute  and 
marked  symptoms  of  any  disease;  that,  nevertheless,  these  animals  are  usually  more 
anaemic  and  less  firm  than  northern  cattle,  and  that,  without  exception,  all  of  them  that  I 
have  dissected  have  shown  the  spleen  enlarged  to  twice  or  thrice  its  usual  weight,  the  liver 
slightly  or  very  fatty,  and  the  true  stomach  reddened  and  eroded.  The  removal  of  these 
animals  to  a  northern  State  results,  especially  as  winter  approaches,  in  a  diminished  size 
of  spleen,  a  great  deposit  of  fat,  and  development  of  blood  and  muscle,  and  the  cicatriza 
tion  of  the  gastric  lesions. 

Side  by  side  with  observations  made  by  me  in  Texas  on  the  bodies  of  animals  that 
had  died,  and  on  others  slaughtered  in  apparent  health,  must  be  placed  Mr.  Ravenel's 
researches  in  relation  to  the  cryptogamic  origin  of  the  disease.  I  do  not  wish  to  forestall 
his  observations,  or  the  report  of  Doctors  Billings  and  Curtis,  but  certainly  it  appeared  that 
the  grasses  which  the  animals  ate  had  a  healthy  aspect,  were  not  infected  by  parasitic 
plants,  and  could  not,  on  a  casual  observation,  be  recognized  as  presenting  any  peculiar 
character  that  might  account  for  the  ill  health  of  animals  eating  them. 

Conjecture  is  not  always  profitable,  and  as  yet  it  is  impossible  to  say  more  with  cer 
tainty  than  that,  in  a  warm  country,  where  a  rich  and  retentive  soil  is  ever  charged  with 
considerable  moisture,  and  where  artificial  systems  of  culture  are  in  their  infancy,  a  gen 
eral  low  tone  of  system  prevails,  which  manifests  itself  in  the  shape  of  an  imperfect  de 
velopment  of  blood,- an  enlargement  of  blood  glands,  and  very  significant  lesions  of  the 
stomach  and  liver. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVEH.  109 

Descriptions  of  the  Texan  fever,  which  have  been  published  for  years  past,  all  agree 
that  the  Texan  and  also  Florida  cattle,  which  have  caused  so  much  mischief,  appear  them 
selves  to  be  in  perfect  health;  and  the  thriving  condition  of  many  herds  in  Indiana,  Illi 
nois,  Missouri,  and  Kansas  tended,  at  first,  to  convince  us  that  whatever  injured  the  im 
proved  breeds  indigenous  to  these  States  hud  no  effect  on  the  long-horned  Texan  cattle. 
It  is  true  that  at  Cairo  we  were  informed,  by  a  gentleman  whose  statement  we  had  no 
reason  to  doubt,  that  he  had  seen  many  Texan  cattle  die  in  the  railway  pens;  and  as 
many  as  nine  or  ten  in  one  morning  had  been  found  dead,  having,  in  his  opinion,  succumbed 
to  the  same  disease  as  that  destroying  the  cows  of  the  inhabitants  of  Cairo.  He  supplied 
the  hay  for  nil  the  cattle  landed  there,  and  the  first  few  lots,  landed  in  April,  appeared 
sound;  but  he  afterward  saw  three  or  four  lots,  numbering  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to 
five  hundred  head,  which  were  affected  by' the  prevailing  disease.  He  distinctly  avers 
that  six,  eight,  and  even  ten  head  of  dead  cattle  were  hauled  off  the  boats  when  they 
arrived  laden  with  stock,  and  the  men  in  charge  got  medicine  for  the  disease.  One  lot  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  animals,  referred  to  by  this  informant,  was  taken  off  the  cars  at 
Farina,  after  leaving  Cairo  for  the  North,  simply  because  they  were  suffering  severely, 
and  it  was  supposed  that  this  arose  from  the  journey;  but  they  communicated  disease  to 
all  the  cattle  that  fed  in  their  path,  and  killed  forty-seven  out  of  fifty  Illinois  cattle  with 
which  they  grazed,  from  the  10th  of  May  to  the  middle  of  June. 

In  opposition  to  hearsay  evidence,  it  was  my  duty  to  examine  cattle  alive  and  those 
which  were  dead.  I  saw  sixty-four  Texan  steers,  fresh  from  New  Orleans,  which  were 
unloaded  at  Cairo  on  the  1st  of  August,  They  all  appeared  healthy.  We  had  previously 
seen  a  considerable  number  of  the  same  kind  of  stock  without  being  able  to  detect  the 
slightest  evidence  of  disease,  and  were  happy  to  receive  an  invitation  to  visit  Mr.  Alexan 
der's  farm,  at  Broadlands,  near  Homer,  where  there  were  four  thousand  five  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  Texan  steers,  which  had  been  driven  to  Broadlands,  and  had  communicated 
disease  not  only  to  the  cattle  feeding  on  their  trail,  but  also  to  a  herd  of  Illinois  cattle  with 
which  they  were  mixed  in  reaching  their  destination. 

The  numbers  awl  da  ten  rclatiny  to  the  several  importations  at  Broadlands  are  an  folloira : 


Purchased  at — 


Date  of  arrival  at  J3roa<llamls. 


No. 


Tolono May  31,  1868  - 499 

Toloiio * i  June   2,  1868 228 

Toloiio June  18,  1808 4% 

Tolouo June  20,  18G8 :!4'J 

Abilene lime  25,  1868 537 

Toloiio June  26,  1868 140 

Tolono Juue  30,  1868 107 

Abilene.. July    2,  1868 248 

Abilene July    3,  1868 241 

Chicago July    4,  1868 11)5 

Tolono July  22,  1868 362 

Tolono !  July  25,  1868 611 

Tolono July  28,1868 , 514 

Total..  I..V.'7 


HO  DKL'AimiKNT  OF  AGKICULTUKE. 

Up  to  the  12th  of  September,  the  date  of  a  letter  from  Broadlands,  thirty-one  of  the 
animals  had  died,  "most  if  not  all  of  them  from  injuries  received  in  transit."  Of  four 
thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven  animals  driven  or  transported  in  steamers  and 
on  railroads,  it  is  not  surprising  that  some  should  die,  considering  the  great  distances  they 
had  to  travel;  but  all  which  we  examined  alive  appeared  healthy  and  thriving.  That 
they  communicated  disease  to  a  very  serious  extent  is  proved  beyond  doubt;  and  it  would 
have  been  important  to  determine,  by  the  slaughter  of  many,  their  real  condition. 

On  the  6th  of  August  I  visited  Broadlands  a  second  time,  for  the  purpose  of  dissect- 
infr  a  Texan  steer  which  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  believed  would  show  signs  of  the 
disease.  We  inspected  the  herds  generally,  which  still  looked  in  perfect  health,  but  one 
of  the  imported  cattle  was  reported  ill  and  dying.  He  had  reached  the  farm  about  the 
middle  of  July,  and  had  not  thriven  well.  It  was,  as  usual,  supposed  that  he  had  sus 
tained  injuries  on  the  journey.  When  I  saw  this  animal  alive,  he  was  lying  down,  with 
his  head  stretched  on  the  ground;  imperceptible  pulse  at  the  jaw,  great  listlessness  and 
prostration,  but  presenting  no  distinctive  symptoms  of  splenic  fever.  After  death  I  found 
that  there  was  an  effusion  of  bloody  serum  under  the  jaw.  The  organs  of  respiration 
were  healthy,  and  (lie  heart  sound.  The  whole  of  the  stomach  and  the  intestines  were 
normal,  as  also  the  liver,  gall  bladder,  and  spleen.  The  kidneys  and  bladder  exhibited  no 
sicms  of  blood  extravasations,  or  alteration  in  the  urine,  such  as.  is  seen  in  splenic  fever. 

O  * 

From  the  general  emaciation  of  the  body,  and  the  absence  of  any  lesion  of  disease,  it  was 
evident  to  me  that  this  animal  had  died  of  hectic;  or,  in  other  words,  of  the  ill  effects  of 
prolonged  starvation  and  ill  usage,  which  had  permanently  arrested  the  functions  of  assim 
ilation.  The  Texan  cattle  were  intermixed  in  the  pastures  of  Broadlands  with  about  six 
hundred  native  animals.  All  but  two  hundred  and  eighty  of  these  were  soon  sent  to  eastern 
markets,  and  those  which  remained  with  them  began  to  die  on  the  26th  of  July.  They 
were  then  placed  on  green  corn ;  but  they  continued  to  sicken  and  succumb  to  the  disease 
until  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  of  all  kinds,  including  a  yoke  of  old  Texan  steers, 
which  had  been  some  time  on  the  farm,  had  been  buried.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  the 
mortality  was  raging  at  its  highest  point,  and  men  were  busy,  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  skin 
ning  digging  graves,  and  burying.  Information  afterward  received  was  that  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  the,  cattle  sent  to  New  York  died  before  they  arrived  there,  and  the  rest  were 
sent  to  the  rendering  tanks. 

Colonel  Sullivan,  of  Twin  drove,  Vermillion  County,  Illinois,  purchased  five  hun 
dred  Texan  steers  at  Cairo,  on  the  24th  of  May.  They  remained  healthy,  b'ut  communi 
cated -the  disease  to  forty  Illinois  steers  and  twenty  heifers  and  cows.  The  disease  ap 
peared  at  Twin  Grove  on  Tuesday,  the  28th  of  July.  Of  the  Texan  steers  three  have 
died  as  the  result  of  accident.  The  next  group  of  southern  cattle  which  come  under  spe 
cial  observation  was  that  of  J.  A.  Harris,  near  Champaign.  He  had  eighty-five  head  of 
southern  cattle,  purchased  last  fall.  There  were  with  them  thirty-eight  Illinois  steers, 
and  this  herd  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  had  grazed  together  the  entire  season.  On 
the  15th  of  July  they  were  placed  on  pasture  over  which  a  herd  of  Texans  had  been 
driven  on  the  15th  of  June.  On  the  3d  of  August  the  Illinois  cattle  began  to  die ;  and, 
in  four  days,  twenty  out  of  the  thirty-eight  were  buried.  The  eighty-five  southern  cattle 
remained  in  perfect  health. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  HI 

This  special  immunity  of  the  cattle  imported  from  the  South  indicated  that  they  had 
overcome  the  influences  which  operate,  however  mildly,  to  the  prejudice  of  their  health 
in  the  South. 

On  the  13th  of  August  we  visited  Hickory  Grove,  near  Oxford,  Indiana.  There 
were  at  that  place  one  thousand  animals,  which  had  been  imported  in  the  fall  of  1867, 
and  had  caused  no  disease  either  in  transit  or  on  the  farm.  On  the  1st  of  June,  1868, 
two  hundred  and  sixteen  head  were  purchased,  which  came  from  New  Orleans  and  Mem 
phis  ;  and,  on  the  12th  of  July  and  the  8th  of  August,  two  separate  droves  of  one  thou 
sand  head  were  taken  on  the  farm  from  Tolono.  The  condition  of  the  whole  of  this  stock 
was  as  perfect  as  any  grazier  could  desire.  Many  of  them  were  quite  fit  for  the  butcher; 
and  those  purchased  last  were  in  a  thriving  condition.  The  last  two  droves  communicated 
disease  on  their  trail ;  but,  being  by  themselves  at  Hickory  Grove,  had  no  opportunity  of 
inflicting  any  damage. 

At  Parish  Grove,  adjoining  the  last-named  farm,  a  herd  of  about  five  hundred  Texan 
cattle  had  just  been  imported  from  Tolono.  It  was-  said  that  the  cattle,  on  their  way 
from  Paxton  to  Hickory  Grove,  in  July,  referred  to  above,  had  crossed  the  prairie  in 
which  the  Parish  Grove,  Illinois,  cattle,  numbering  five  hundred,  had  grazed.  Within 
seven  or  eight  dayls  after  the  last  herd  of  five  hundred  cattle  had  reached  Parish  Grove 
from  Tolono,  the  Illinois  cattle  began  to  die.  Fifteen  car  loads  of  these  had  just  been 
sent  by  rail  to  Chicago  ;  and,  of  the  remaining  number,  few  survived.  I  inspected  four 
sick  steers,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  malady  would  destroy  nearly  all  the  Illinois  stock. 
On  an  adjoining  farm  Mr.  Edward  Sumner  had  nearly  one  thousand  head  of  northern  cat 
tle,  among  which  the  disease  had  appeared. 

On  the  14th  of  August  we  visited  Mr.  Joseph  Heath's  farm,  near  Oxford,  Indiana, 
and  found  there  one  thousand  one  hundred  Texan  cattle  which  had  been  purchased  at 
New  Orleans  and  Tolono.  These  had  communicated  disease  over  the  road  they  had 
passed,  and  Mr.  Heath's  native  stock,  numbering  seventy  or  eighty,  were  dying  fast.  We 
examined  three  alive,  and  dissected  two,  showing  all  the  indications  of  splenic  fever. 

On  the  next  day,  at  Reynolds,  we  visited  a  herd  of  over  two  hundred  Texan  steers, 
which  had  arrived  on  the  27th  of  May  ;  and  disease  appeared  at  Reynolds  the  beginning 
of  June.  One  car  load  of  the  animals  was  unloaded  at  Chalmers,  and  driven  upon  J.  M. 
Bunnell's  pasture,  at  Reynolds.  They  remained  there  only  two  days  ;  but,  five  weeks 
afterward,  the  disease  appeared,  and  killed  the  whole  of  Mr.  Bunnell's  stock,  amounting 
to  about  eighteen  hundred  head.  The  bulk  of  the  Texan  cattle  were  sent  to  Kenton's 
pasture,  three  miles  from  Reynolds,  where  they  were  mixed  with  seventy-three  head  ot 
native  cattle.  Of  these,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  from  fifty-five  to  sixty  had  already  died, 
and  others  were  sick.  Cattle  on  the  west  side  of  the  track  at  Reynolds  were  safe  ;  but 
cattle  east,  between  the  station  and  Kenton's  pasture,  had  died. 

It  is  worthy  of  special  mention  here  that,  for  the  first  time,  the  transportation  of 
Texan  cattle  was  established  in  1868  from  New  Orleans,  by  steamboats  up  the  Missis 
sippi  to  Cairo  ;  and  thence,  via  the  Illinois  Central  road,  to  the  pastures  of  Illinois  and 
Indiana,  having  heretofore  been  sent,  since  the  war,  from  New  Orleans  up  the  Mississippi 
to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  with  the  same  results  as  at  Cairo.  The  first  lot  of  Texan  cattle 
was  landed  at  Cairo  on  the  23d  day  of  April ;  and  between  that  time  and  the  1st  of  Au 
gust,  when  the  railway  peremptorily  refused  to  transport  any  more  stock,  about  sixteen 


112  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

thousand  animals  passed  from  tlie  South  on  that  route.  At  Cairo  the  splenic  fever  ap 
peared  about  the  end  of  May,  or  beginning  of  June  ;  at  Farina  early  in  July  ;  at  Tolono 
on  the  20th  of  July  ;  and  thence,  at  later  periods,  usually  dating  five  weeks  from  the 
time  the  Texan  cattle  were  driven  upon  the  roads  and  pastures,  where  disease  afterward 
appeared.  The  majority  of  the  cattle,  amounting  probably  to  ten  thousand,  were  handled 
by  the  railroad  people  at  Tolono  ;  and  Mr.  Charles  Troy ford,  of  that  place,  who  had  lost 
forty-eight  out  of  ninety-eight  Illinois  cattle  by  the  disease,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  in 
formed  me  that  he  had  not  seen  a  single  Texan  steer  diseased,  out  of  the  whole  ten  thou 
sand,  the  feeding,  driving,  and  delivering  of  which  he  had  personally  superintended. 

From  the  commencement  of  my  inquiries  I  had  considered  it  highly  probable  that 
cases  of  splenic  fever  would  be  found  even  among  southern  stock  ;  and  rewards  were  of- 
ered,  at  Tolono  and  elsewhere,  to  any  one  who  would  indicate  cases  alive  or  dead.  Con 
sidering  that,  wherever  we  traveled,  the  people  whose  stock  had  been  destroyed  were 
anxious  to  furnish  us  the  positive  proof,  if  such  could  be  obtained,  it  is  remarkable  that 
not  a  single  case  was  brought  to  our  notice. 

I  returned  to  Chicago,  and  again  had  occasion  to  inspect  both  Texan  and  Illinois 
cattle  in  the  slaughter-houses  ;  and  having,  by  that  time,  ascertained  the  means  whereby 
even  the  latent  forms  of  the  disease  might  be  discovered  after  death,  I  had  no  difficulty 
in  tracing  lesions  in  steers  reputed  healthy,  and  slaughtered  for  human  food.  This  infor 
mation  I  communicated  at  once  to  Dr.  Rauch,  medical  officer  of  health  of  the  city  of  Chi 
cago,  who  invited  me  to  address  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  health,  on  Tuesday,  the  18th  of 
August ;  and,  as  what  I  then  stated  is  of  material  moment  in  the  history  of  developments 
made  by  me  on  this  subject,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  transcribe,  from  the  short-hand  writer's 
notes,  the  following  passages  : 

I  was  called  upon,  a  fortnight  ago,  to  reply  to  the  question  whether,  if  any  of  the  flesh  of  the  sick  animals  hap 
pened  to  be  sold,  it  was  probable,  that  human  beings  might  suffer  ?  I  unhesitatingly  asserted  then  what  I  repeat  now 
that  the  meat  is  not  poisonous,  and  is  incapable  of  injuring  human  beings.  To  that  opinion  I  adhere. 

If  I  should  be  asked  what  regulations  should  be  made  by  city  authorities,  in  relation  to  the  traffic  in  diseased  meat, 
I  have  simply  to  declare  what  I  have  said  for  many  years  past,  viz.,  that  it  is  impossible  to  draw  a  line  between  health 
and  disease,  except  as  the  two  conditions  are  known  to  medical  men;  and,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  disadvan 
tages  of  condemning  more  meat  than  there  is  any  necessity  for,  it  is  essential  that  a  sanitary  officer  should  be  supported, 
on  tlii)  broad  general  principle  that  a  diseased  animal  is  an  animal  unfit  for  human  consumption. 

The  danger  of  an  abundant  supply  of  animal  food,  the  produce  of  animals  affected  with  Texan  fever,  has  almost 
passed.  Some  farmers  and  shippers  have  learned  that  it  is  not  safe  to  send  stock  to  such  markets  as  these,  and  the 
action  of  this,  as  of  other  boards  of  health,  has  no  doubt  been  already  beneficial. 

But  any  system  of  inspection  now  to  be  adopted  must  almost  inevitably  fail,  if  directed  mainly  to  the  condition  of 
live  stock  at  the  Union  stock  yards. 

It  is  in  the  slaughter-houses  that  a  ready  means  of  ascertaining  the  real  condition  of  cattle  can  be  secured  ;  and  the 
recognition  of  the  Texan  fever  rests  in  the  examination  specially  of  the  spleen,  which  is  much  increased  in  size,  some 
times  before  animals  show  any  external  signs  of  sickness.  A  medical  inspector  would  likewise  detect  blood  extrava 
sations  in  the  internal  organs,  nlcerations  of  the  stomach,  and,  as  the  disease  advanced,  bloody  urine  ;  but  the  most 
satisfactory  sign,  for  the  purpose  of  meat  inspections,  is  the  condition  of  the  spleen.  The  flesh  of  animals  slaughtered, 
when  affected,  shows  no  signs  of  morbid  change,  so  that  it  is  essential  to  examine  the  internal  organs  in  order  to  draw 
conclusions  as  to  the  condition  of  any  carcass. 

On  the  20th  of  August  we  left  for  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City,  and  Abilene.  We  met 
with  cases  of  splenic  fever  in  the  first-named  city  ;  but,  from  the  manner  in  which  the 
Texan  droves  are  segregated  while  awaiting  their  transfer  to  the  cars  at  Kansas  City,  the 
indigenous  stock  in  that  district  was  found  healthy.  At  Junction  City  we  found  a  herd  of 
sick  cattle  which  had  crossed  the  Texan  trails  at  Salina,  having  been  used  in  the  West  for 
draught  purposes.  We  proceeded  to  Abilene,  the  center  of  the  shipment  of  Texan  steers. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  113 

It  had  been  confidently  asserted  that  the  stock,  driven  by  easy  stages  from  Texas  through 
the  Indian  Territory  and  unsettled  lands  of  Kansas,  had  communicated  no  disease  ;  but 
this  we  found  erroneous,  as  the  indigenous  stock  around  Abilene  had  suffered,  and  herds 
had  just  been  seized,  from  which  we  had  ample  opportunities  for  examining  such  cattle, 
both  alive  and  dead. 

We  learned  at  the  Drover's  Cottage  that,  scattered  along  the  creeks  at  intervals  of 
four  or  five  miles,  large  herds  of  Texan  cattle  could  be  seen  over  a  distance  of  forty  or  fifty 
miles.  This  led  us  to  undertake  a  journey  across  the  prairie,  as  far  down  as  Big  Turkey 
Creek,  near  the  Little  Arkansas  River;  and  it  is  but  just  that  publicity  be  given  to  the 
anxiety  manifested,  and  assistance  tendered  us  in  our  investigations,  on  the  part  of  the 
gentlemen  engaged  in  the  southern  trade.  Major  Call,  who  owned  two  of  the  largest  herds, 
zealously  undertook  the  necessary  arrangements  for  our  journey  ;  and,  by  this  means,  we 
had  an  opportunity  of  examining  carefully  over  fifteen  thousand  head  of  cattle,  whicli  had 
arrived  at  their  destination  during  the  months  of- July  and  August. 

In  general  terms,  it  may  be  said  that  the  whole  stock  indicated  how  much  better  it  is 
for  cattle  to  be  driven  slowly,  where  there  is  an  ample  supply  of  food  and  water,  than  it 
is  to  transport  them,  even  for  two  or  three  days,  in  railway  cars.  There  was  a  difference 
in  the  herds  according  to  the  speed  they  had  maintained  on  the  journey,  and  it  appears 
that  an  average  walk  of  eight  miles  daily,  over  the  whole  journey,  is  as  much  as  the  cattle 
should  be  subjected  to  in  order  to  secure  improvement  rather  than  deterioration  in  their 
condition.  The  best  drovers  avoid  shouting  and  the  stock-whip;  and  much  depends  on 
the  intelligence  of  the  person  who  superintends  a  herd  as  to  the  selection  of  the  best  grazing 
ground  and  searching  for  a  sufficient  supply  of  water.  The  creeks,  scattered  throughout 
the  whole  of  the  prairie  lands  of  Kansas,  dry  up  in  summer,  and  cattle  must  sometimes  be 
driven  thirty  or  thirty-five  miles  before  water  can  be  found.  This  is  rare ;  but,  under  the 
most  careful  management,  the  driving  of  cattle  from  Texas  to  any  point  on  the  eastern 
division  of  the  Union  Pacific  road  at  or  west  of  Abilene  is  attended  with  some  such  incon 
venience.  Nevertheless,  wherever  proper  supervision  is  exercised  that  the  animals  may 
never  be  overheated,  it  is  found  that  they  improve  in  condition,  grow  stout  and  hardy, 
and  are  in  a  fit  state  for  slaughter  at  the  end  of  their  journey  on  foot. 

Of  the  stock  we  examined,  two  hundred  head  of  Indian  cattle,  from  the  Chickasaw 
nation,  were  in  pasture  five  miles  from  Abilene,  and  all  appeared  in  very  fine  condition. 
The  greater  part  of  the  remaining  stock  we  inspected  was  from  Northwestern,  from  Central, 
and  from  Eastern  Texas. 

The  only  evidence  of  suffering  was,  at  first,  lameness,  which  in  some  cases  was  due 
to  injuries  from  animals  fighting  or  spraining  themselves  in  getting  through  difficult  places. 
At  times  a  steer  gets  lame  from  the  long  sharp  grass,  wounding  the  skin  between  the  hoof; 
and  at  other  points,  as  on  Smoky  Hill,  the  stony  surface,  with  angular  fragments  of  iron 
stone  and  other  hard  and  sharp  bits  of  flint,  wounds  the  feet  and  disables  a  considerable 
number  of  cattle. 

On  Smoky  Hill  we  found,  on  the  27th  of  August,  a  herd  which  had  been  collected, 
from  forty  to  two  hundred  miles  from  the  coast,  in  Southern  Texas,  between  the  1st  and 
the  18th  of  May.  It  arrived  at  Smoky  Hill  on  the  22d  of  August.  Two  animals  had  died 
on  the  route;  one  died  after  getting  lame,  and  the  other  refused  to  eat,  was  depressed, 
languid,  and  passed  blood  with  the  excreta.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  there  were  twenty 
15 


114  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

or  thirty  animals  which  looked  gaunt  and  weak,  but  we  were  told  that  they  were  work- 
oxen  in  poor  condition.  One  animal  was  lame  and  stiff,  but  was  reported  as  improving  in 
condition.  Another  had  died  during  the  night,  and  we  proceeded  to  examine  its  internal 
organs.  It  was  a  dun  Texan  steer,  four  years  old,  that  had  been  stampeded  with  others 
the  day  before,  and  shortly  afterward  had  succumbed.  'The  body  was  still  warm,  and 
free  from  all  trace  of  decomposition.  The  skin  and  subcutaneous  tissues  presented  no 
mark  of  injury  or  disease.  The  organs  of  respiration  were  healthy.  The  heart,  of  normal 
volume  and  consistency,  was  ecchymosed  at  its  apex,  and  circumscribed  blood  extravasa 
tions  dotted  the  reflection  of  the  pericardium  over  and  around  the  pulmonary  artery.  The 
right  cavities  of  the  heart  contained  a  small  clot  of  blood,  and  the  left  were  empty.  The 
endocardium  was  of  normal  color  and  thickness  throughout.  The  mouth,  fauces,  pharynx, 
esophagus,  and  the  first  three  stomachs  were  healthy.  The  fourth,  or  true  stomach,  was 
reddened  over  its  entire  mucous  surface.  The  folds  at  the  cardiac  end  were  of  a  deep  red, 
with  numerous  petechio)  scattered  irregularly  over  their  surface.  The  petechia?  were 
usually  dark  in  the  center,  where  the  membrane  was  softening,  and  of  a  lighter  crimson 
hue  on  their  circumferences.  Many  were  round,  and  others  of  irregular  shapes,  either 
from  coalescence  of  several  extravasations  or  the  irregular  spreading  of  one  original  bleed 
ing  spot. 

The  small  intestine,  of  a  reddish  or  purplish  hue  externally,  was  the  seat  of  ramified 
redness,  with  some  petechise  scattered  throughout  its  whole  extent.  Peyer's  glands  were 
healthy.  The  ilcum  was,  however,  more  congested  than  the  duodenum  or  jejunum. 
The  caecum,  somewhat  reddened  on  its  entire  mucous  surface,  was  striped  with  blood 
extravasations  which  had  occurred  along  the  prominent  edges  of  the  mucous  folds  at  its 
fundus,  and  there  were  several  well-defined  ecchymoses  scattered  irregularly  over  the 
whole  lining.  The  colon  was  more  or  less  reddened  throughout,  until  near  its  termination, 
where  it  had  a  natural  color.  The  rectum  was  not  discolored,  but  near  the  anus  there 
was  a  small  patch  with  a  thin  film  of  coagulated  blood  on  its  unabraded  surface,  and, 
when  the  membrane  wrinkled  by  the  action  of  the  sphincter,  the  free  margin  of  the  folds 
was  streaked  with  interstitial  deposit  of  blood.  The  spleen,  of  a  dark  purplish  color, 
weighed  three  and  a  half  pounds,  and  its  structure  was  soft  and  friable. 

The  liver  was  of  normal  size  and  color,  but  the  gall  bladder  appeared  thickened  from 
an  exudation  of  yellow  serum  in  the  substance  of  its  coats.  These  appeared  three  or  four 
times  their  normal  thickness.  The  small  arteries  and  veins  of  the  mucous  membrane 
were  much  distended  with  dark  blood,  and  there  was  also  some  capillary  congestion. 
The  kidneys  were  healthy.  The  bladder  was  moderately  distended  by  clear-colored  urine, 
but  its  mucous  surface,  reddened  at-  the  fundus,  was  dotted  with  small  petechia?  of  a 
vermilion  hue  at  and  around  the  neck  of  the  organ. 

Failing  to  obtain  further  evidence  of  splenic  fever  in  this  and  an  adjoining  herd  from 
a  careful  inspection  of  the  animals,  I  determined  on  having  some  of  them  caught  and 
examined  with  a  self-registering  thermometer.  Four  steers,  caught  with  a  lasso,  indicated 
a  temperature  of  103.4°,  102.4°,  103°,  and  104.2°.  This  indicated  a  somewhat  exalted 
temperature  for  animals  which  to  all  appearances  were  in  health;  and  I  was  fortunate  in 
getting  an  animal  that  had  been  used  in  a  wagon,  driven  quietly  to  camp,  and  then 
examined.  This  indicated  a  temperature  of  103°  Fahrenheit.  My  conviction  that  the 
lasso  would  not  vary  the  temperature  was  thus  confirmed,  and  it  is  hard  to  reconcile  the 
observations  made  with  perfect  freedom  from  disease. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVElf.  115 

The  inspections  of  herds  grazed  on  and  near  the  Santa  Fc  road,  and  inquiries  among 
drovers  and  herders,  failed  to  bring  to  light  any  other  cases  of  sickness  or  death;  and  the 
evidence  of  the  suffering  of  Texan  cattle  from  splenic  fever,  so  far  as  our  observations  in 
Kansas  go,  rested  on  the  very  marked  case  examined  at  Smoky  Hill,  on  the  high  temperature 
manifested  by  animals  in  the  undoubtedly  infected  herd,  and  on  the  observations  as  to 
the  relative  weights  of  spleens  in  healthy  and  sick  cattle,  reported  in  the  foregoing  pages. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  favorable  report  which  can  be  made  regarding  the 
general  appearance  of  southern  herds,  it  is  proved  by  the  experiences  of  past  years,  and 
of  this,  that  they  disseminate  disease  among  cattle  north  or  west  of  the  Gulf  States. 
The  impression  was  left  on  my  mind,  after  the  first  observations  of  the  malady,  that  the 
Texan  steers  might  be  found  to  communicate  the  disease  only  for  a  limited  time  after 
leaving  Texas.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  such  is  the  case,  though  we  found  that  two 
months'  journey,  from  Texas  to  the  Union  Pacific  road,  had  not  sufficed  to  effect  this 
object.  Experiments  on  this  point  would  be  desirable,  though  expensive,  and  demanding 
much  time  and  attention.  We  were  told,  however,  that  the  cattle  which  had  induced  so 
much  disease  at  Farina,  on  being  removed  to  Locla,  were  placed  on  lands  which  brought 
them  in  contact  with  Illinois  cattle,  and  no  bad  results  ensued.  Mr.  Robert  Clark,  of 
Indianola,  who  has  had  great  experience  in  driving  cattle  through  Missouri  into  Illinois, 
states  it.  as  his  decided  opinion,  from  repeated  observation  and  inquiries  among  drovers, 
that  the  Texan  steers  are  most  dangerous  immediately  after  leaving  Texas — and  hence  the 
great  opposition  to  their  importation  into  Missouri — but  that  after  they  have  traveled  a 
long  distance  they  are  far  less  liable  to  do  any  mischief.  This  point  is  of  great  importance 
in  relation  to  means  which  might  be  suggested  for  the  prevention  of  the  disease,  and  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that,  without  doubt,  cattle  driven  into  Kansas,  Missouri,  or  other  States, 
in  the  summer  or  autumn  of  one  year,  and  grazed  in  such  State  during  the  winter,  fail  to 
retain  any  deleterious  principle,  and  can  readily  be  intermixed  with,  any  stock  during  the 
winter  and  spring.  Texan  herds,  therefore,  do  purify  themselves;  and  the  point  of  greatest 
importance  in  relation  to  the  traffic  in  such  stock  is  to  establish,  without  doubt,  what 
length  of  time  is  required  for  such  purification,  and  if  means  can  be  adopted  to  accelerate 
so  desirable  a  result. 

NON-TRANSMISSION    OF    THE    DISEASE    BY    NORTHERN    OR    ]5Y    WESTERN    STOCK. 

During  the  three  months  last  summer  many  well-marked  cases  have  been  seen  of 
communication  of  splenic  fever  to  Illinois  and  to  Indiana  cattle.  At  first  these  animals 
were  allowed  to  die;  but,  as  soon  as  large  herds  of  grazing  stock  were  attacked,  an  effort 
was  made  to  save,  what  could  be  saved  by  shipping  and  sending  to  eastern  markets. 
Cattle  trucks  have  thus  been  filled  in  large  numbers  with  infected  steers,  which  died 
or  were  slaughtered  and  committed  to  the  rendering  tanks.  But  not  a  single  case  has 
transpired  to  show  that  these  animals  have  induced,  directly  or  indirectly,  any  disease 
in  the  stock  of  Eastern  States.  How  different  from  this  is  the  working  of  a  contagious 
disease  !  Had  any  malady  of  the  nature  of  rinderpest  or  lung  plague  been  favored  in  its 
transmission  as  this  one  has  been,  the  farmers  of  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York 
would  have  bitter  experiences  to  record,  similar  to  those  of  the  much-injured  Illinois 
farmers.  That  which  is  obvious  in  relation  to  the  progress  of  the  disease  through  the 
country  is  also  apparent  in  any  district  invaded  by  the  disease.  None  but  southern  cattle 


116  DEPABTMEST  OF  AGEICULTUKE. 

communicate  disease,  arid  they  rarely,  if  ever,  do  any  mischief  through  stock  yards  and 
cattle  cars,  and  only  by  feeding  on  pastures  over  which  other  stock  afterward  roams  and 
feeds.  No  case  has  been  brought  forward  to  show  that  a  railway  car  loaded  with  Texan 
cattle  will  communicate  disease  to  other  stock  afterward  placed  in  such  car.  Numerous 
instances  of  this  description  would  have  come  to  light  had  we  been  dealing  with  what  is 
commonly  understood  as  a  contagious  plague. 

COMMUNICATION    IN    STOCK    YARDS. 

The  earlier  reports  from  Cairo  stated  that  the  cows  in  that  city  had  caught  the  disease 
from  the  Texan  cattle  in  steamboat  and  railway  pens;  indeed  we  were  informed  that 
many  of  the  Cairo  cows  had  been  in  the  habit  of  wandering  not  only  near,  but  into  the  cattle 
pens,  and  eating  the  hay  the  Texan  cattle  left  behind  them.  This  is  the  only  observation 
that  would  give  color  to  the  view  that  hay  might  be  a  means  of  propagating  the  disorder. 
But  we  learned  at  Cairo  that  Texan  cattle  had  been  loose  on  the  common  within  the 
levee,  and  some  stray  animals  had  remained  for  some  days  on  the  very  prairie  which  is 
the  only  pasture  for  the  cattle  of  the  town.  It  was  impossible  to  find  a  single  case  which 
afforded  reliable  grounds  for  supposing  that  the  only  chance  for  contamination  was  in  the 
cattle  pens  of  Cairo. 

It  may  be  suggested  that  eating  hay  which  has  been  poisoned  must  be  as  bad  as 
eating  prairie  grass  over  which  Texan  steers  have  wandered.  But  there  is  this  difference, 
that  cattle  are  not  apt  to  eat  hay  on  which  the  excretions  of  other  cattle  have  been 
deposited,  and  would  attempt  to  pick  up  only  the  clean  fodder.  On  grass  lands  the 
growth  of  grass  and  the  washings  of  the  pasture  by  rains  clear  off  the  filth,  though  they 
may  often  leave  adhering  deleterious  principles,  which  are  swallowed.  A  good  illustration 
of  this  is  afforded  by  the  dissemination  of  the  tapeworm,  the  ova  of  which  are  distributed 
with  the  excrement  of  dogs  and  other  carnivora;  and,  while  the  feces  are  washed  away, 
the  ova  adhere  to  blades  of  grass,  and  develop  in  the  systems  of  cattle  and  sheep. 

I  would  not  wish  it  to  be  understood  that  I  consider  it  improbable  that  hay  may,  under 
some  circumstances,  be  poisoned  by  Texan  steers,  and  afterward  give  disease  to  other 
stock;  but,  as  yet,  no  facts  prove  that  such  has  been  the  case.  On  the  contrary,  the  most 
reliable,  though  accidental,  experiment  is  afforded  by  cattle  fed  by  Mr.  Sherman,  of  the 
Union  stock  yards,  Chicago.  He  has  thirty-five  cows  which  have  grazed  all  summer  close 
up  to  the  cattle  pens  where  thousands  of  southern  steers  have  been  inclosed,  without  inter 
mission.  Of  these  cows  the  majority  have  been  purchased  out  of  the  yards  at  different 
times,  some  last  spring,  and  some  have  been  in  the  cattle  pens  with  Texan  droves.  On 
the  occasion  of  my  visit  to  the  yards  I  have  also  seen  a  Texan  calf  placed  with  the  cows; 
and  yet  no  animals  could  be  in  better  health  than  those  in  Mr.  Sherman's  dairy. 

This  suggestive  case  proves,  in  the  most  incontrovertible  manner,  that  western  cattle 
can  be  mingled  with  Texans  in  stock  yards,  can  graze  side  by  side  with  them  if  separated 
by  a  fence,  and  that  cows  can  suckle  the  Texan  calves,  without  becoming  affected  with 
splenic  fever.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  any  of  the  cows  purchased  by  Mr.  Sherman 
were  fed  on  hay  in  the  yards  while  they  were  in  the  same  pen  with  the  Texan  cattle, 
but  in  all  probability  they  were. 

This  point  has  acquired  some  importance  since  the  British  government  prohibited  the 
importation  of  hay  from  the  United  States.  Acting  on  the  side  of  prudence,  with  the 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  117 

necessarily  limited  information  that  could  have  boen  at  its  disposal  when  that  order  was 
issued,  and  in  view  of  the  losses  by  contagious  diseases  which  have  become  chronic  in  the 
British  Isles,  it  was  in  all  probability  the  only  course  that  could  have  been  adopted.  But 
it  may  be  well  to  state,  for  future  guidance,  that  it  is  not  possible  for  bales  of  hay  shipped 
to  Europe  to  carry  the  splenic  fever.  For  years  to  come  the  open  prairie  lands  on  which 
we  have  witnessed  the  dissemination  of  the  disease  cannot  yield  hay  for  the  markets  of 
America;  that  hay  is  produced  in  the  Eastern  and  the  Western  States,  in  localities  where 
Texan  cattle  never  have  been  and  probably  never  will  be  grazed;  and,  moreover,  in  the 
fields  mown  for  hay  cattle  are  not  pastured. 

The  larger  tracts  of  country  on  which  southern  droves  feed  are  likely  to  remain  un 
settled  for  years  to  come,  and  neither  scythe  nor  sickle  has  ever  reached  them.  England 
is  as  likely  to  get  rinderpest  as  splenic  fever  from  America  ;  and  the  only  way  in  which  it 
might  see  the  latter  would  be  by  transporting  herds  of  Gulf-coast  cattle  across  the  Atlantic, 
to  feed  on  British  pasture  lands,  side  by  side  with  British  stock. 

SEASONS. 

The  influence  of  seasons  on  the  development  of  splenic  fever  is  most  marked.  A  few 
nipping  frosts  check  its  ravages  anywhere  and  everywhere.  In  Missouri  and  Kansas  it 
has  broken  out  as  late  as  October  and  December.  Thus,  in  the  report  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  for  1867,  it  was  stated  from  Christian  County,  Missouri,  that,  in  1866, 
"Spanish  fever  was  introduced  into  the  western  part  of  this  county  by  droves  of  Texas 
cattle,  passing  in  October."  From  Woodson  County,  Kansas,  it  was  reported  that  the 
"Spanish  fever  broke  out  in  December,  and  raged  until  the  1st  of  January,  ivhen  the  cold 
weather  set  in  and  checked  it."  The  droves  of  Texan  cattle,  which  communicate  the 
disease  during  the  summer,  leave  Texas  by  the  close  of  winter;  so  that  the  Texan  winter 
in  no  way  interferes  with  the  development  of  that  state  of  system  which  renders  Texan 
herds  so  dangerous. 

In  a  case  reported,  too  vaguely  to  be  of  real  value,  in  the  report  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  for  1867,  we  are  informed  that,  in  Douglas  County,  Kansas,  "  the  Spanish 
fever,  or  something  similar,  made  its  appearance  about  the  1st  of  February,  among  a  few 
cattle  that  were  driven  from  the  South."  In  all  probability  this  was  not  splenic  fever;  and 
the  reporter  adds:  "I  think  the  severity  of  the  winter  caused  the  greatest  loss;  about  one- 
third  of  all  the  cattle  brought  from  the  south  have  died."  It  is  certain  that,  in  States 
north  of  Missouri  and  Kansas,  splenic  fever  prevails  in  the  months  of  June,  July,  August, 
and  September.  Straggling  cases  may  occur  in  May  and  in  October;  but  the  great  losses 
are  observed  during  the  four  months  just  named. 

Does  this  depend  on  the  influence  of  heat  and  drought,  or  on  the  accidental  circum 
stances  that  Texan  cattle  have  been  mainly  distributed  over  the  country  during  these 
months?  The  second  is  the  main  reason;  but  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  reconcile  many 
observations  which  I  have  made  with  the  idea  that  heat  does  not  favor  the  development  of 
the  disorder.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  name  it,  but  it  is  asserted  by  practical  men  that  Texan 
cattle  can  be  handled  most  safely  when  the  summers  are  wet  and  cool.  The  wet  may  wash 
the  grasses,  but  the  cold  seems  to  favor  a  constitutional  resistance  to  the  attacks  of  the  dis 
ease.  A  record  of  the  cases  which  demonstrate  that  Texan  cattle  can  be  freely  placed  with 
western  stock  in  winter  would  fill  a  volume.  At  Broadlands,  Hickory  Grove,  near  Cham- 


118  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGHICULTUKE. 

paign,  and  in  a  host  of  other  places,  southern  cattle,  purchased  last  fall,  were  placed  with 
indigenous  stock,  have  remained  with  them  ever  since,  and  have  induced  no  disease.  This 
is  very  generally  known  and  admitted.  A  reporter  from  Cedar  County,  Missouri,  writing 
in  1866,  said:  "It  is  thought  that  our  cattle  would  not  take  the.  disease  in  the  winter  sea 
son,  but  this  may  be  only  conjecture,  as  no  large  droves  have  yet  been  driven  here  from 
the  South  in  the  winter."  Of  late  years,  however,  there  has  been  an  effort  to  drive  from 
Texas  for  the  October  and  November  markets,  and  we  have  not  heard  of  a  single  case 
where  stock-drivers,  up  at  that  time,  had  done  any  mischief  in  Illinois  or  Indiana.  Nip 
ping  frosts  may  and  do  kill  the  disease,  by  destroying  the  pasture,  and  compelling  people 
to  feed  their  cattle.  This  completely  arrests  that  method  of  transmission,  which  I  believe 
to  be  the  main  or  only  one.  As  soon  as  western  stock  is  removed  from  the  pasture  on  which 
Texan  cattle  have  been  fed,  it  is  safe;  and  this  is  an  unanswerable  argument  in  favor  of 
the  views  I  have  promulgated  since  the  time  of  my  first  observations.  It  is  not  the  breath, 
nor  the  saliva,  nor  cutaneous  emanations  which  are  charged  with  the  poisonous  principle, 
but  the  fieces  and  the  urine. 

It  has,  however,  been  very  generally  remarked  that  Texan  cattle  are  covered  with 
the  tick.  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  C.  V.  Riley,  esq.,  State  entomologist  of  Missouri,  a 

drawing  of  the  tick  as  found  on  Texan  cattle.  In  the  annexed 
engravings  are  an  upper  and  an  under  view.  As  the  legs  do  not 
alter  in  size  in  proportion  to  the  body,  a  view  has  been  given 
of  a  smaller  specimen  between  the  two.  This  tick  belongs  to 
the  Class  Arachnidce,  Order  Trachearice,  and  Family  Izodidce.  It  has  eight  fine,  jointed 
legs.  It  is  not  confined  to  cattle  in  the  South,  and  is  seen  in  many  woodland  pastures  of 
the  United  States.  For  convenience,  and  to  distinguish  this  species  from  Ixodes  reticula- 
tus,  I  propose  to  call  it  Ixodes  indentatus,  from  the  peculiar  indentations  on  the  body  and 
absence  of  stripes.  These  ticks  fasten  on  the  bodies  of  native  cattle,  and  breed.  The 
young  ticks  are  distributed  in  myriads  on  the  grasses,  and  it  has  been  supposed  that  the 
grasses  are  thus  poisoned.* 

The  "tick  theory"  has  acquired  quite  a  renown  during  the  past  summer;  but  a  little 
thought  should  have  satisfied  any  one  of  the  absurdity  of  the  idea. 

1st.  Ticks  are  not  easily  fenced  on  a  piece  of  land  by  a  wood  fence,  as  cattle  are.  A 
wood  fence  sufficiently  isolates  cattle  to  prevent  splenic  fever. 

2d.  We  have  seen  Texan  cattle  both  alive  and  dead,  and  also  dead  western,  quite 
free  from  these  parasites.  There  has  been  no  relation  whatever  between  the  abundance 

*  Tim  following  remarks  on  the  Ixodoi  1ioi-in  are  from  ('.  V.  Kiloy,  St.  Louis,  Missouri : 

Ij-odix  botix,  (Kiloy.)— A  reddish,  coriaceous,  flattened  species,  with  the  body  oblong-oval,  contracted  just  behind 
the  middle,  sur.l  witli  two  longitudinal  impressions  above  this  contraction,  and  three  below  it,  more  especially  visible 
in  the  dried  specimen.  Head  short  and  broad,  not  spined  behind,  with  two  deep,  round  pits.  Palpi  and  beak  together 
unusually  short,  the  palpi  being  slender.  Labium  short  and  broad,  densely  spined  beneath.  Mandibles  smooth  above, 
with  terminal  hooks.  Thoracic  shield  distinct,  one-third  longer  than  wide,  smooth  and  polished  ;  convex,  with  the 
lynite  medial  convexity  very  distinct.  Legs  long  and  slender,  pale  testaceous  red  ;  coxa'  not  spined.  Length  of  boil v, 
.l.r>  of  an  inch;  width,  .(IS)  of  an  inch.  Missouri  Coll.,  ('.  V.  Kiley. 

This  is  the  cattle  tick  of  the  Western  States.  Several  hundred  specimens,  in  dill'rrcnt  stages  of  growth,  have  also 
been  received  from  I'nlvon,  west  coast  of  Nicaragua,  taken  from  the  horned  cattle,  and  on  a  species  of  Itaii/jiroi-ta,  by  Mr. 
J.  McNeil.  They  preserve  the  elongated  tlatteucd  form,  with  the  body  contracted  behind  the  middle,  by  which  this 
species  may  be  easily  identilied.  The  largest  specimens  measure  .50  by  .:«>  of  an  inch.  When  gorged  with  blood  they 
are  nearly  as  thick  through  as  they  are  broad.  In  the  freshly-hatched  hexapodous  young,  and  the  young  in  the  next 
stage  of  growth,  the  thoracic  shield  is  one-third  the  size  of  the  whole  body,  which  is  pale  yellowish,  with  very  distinct 
crcniilations  on  the  hinder  edge.  The  fourth  pair  of  legs  is  added  apparently  at  the  first  moult.  It  is  called  " garapata  '' 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Nicaragua. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVEK.  119 

of  ticks  and  the  severity  of  the  disorder.  The  malady  has  been  quite  as  malignant  where 
few  or  no  ticks  occurred. 

3d.  We  have  been  asked  to  watch  for  the  irritating  parasites  in  the  stomach  and 
intestines,  and  it  was  believed  that  they  acted  mechanically;  but  wo  have  never  seen  a 
tick  during  any  stage  of  its  development  in  the  alimentary  canal. 

4th.  The  tick  is  not  confined  to  Gulf-coast  cattle,  which  we  know  communicate  this 
disease;  but  it  is  met  with  in  various  parts  of  the  States  where  cattle  are  reared  that 
never  cause  splenic  fever.  Why  should  the  ticks  not  communicate  the  malady  from  west 
ern  cattle  to  other  cattle,  if  they  can  induce  it  by  crawling  from  the  Texan  to  western 
stock?  Many  erroneous  views  as  to  the  origin  and  propagation  of  the  Texan  fever  may 
be  set  at  rest  by  showing  what  it  is  not;  and  for  this  reason  I  shall  proceed  to  discuss 
the  analogies  and  differences  between  splenic  fever  and  other  disorders  afflicting  cattle, 
and  even  the  human  species. 

THE  NATURE  OP  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

The  history  of  splenic  fever  would  seem  to  indicate  its  complete  isolation  from  every 
disease,  and  especially  every  form  of  plague  hitherto  described.  But  a  careful  study  of 
its  progress  and  development,  with  the  light  afforded  by  a  knowledge  of  other  cattle  dis 
eases,  enables  us  to  demonstrate  points  of  great  resemblance,  and  indeed  of  identity  with 
maladies  which  annually  recur  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  It  is,  moreover,  important, 
in  a  practical  point  of  view,  to  show  how  it  differs  from  maladies  which  spread  from 
country  to  country,  and  from  the  east  westward,  devastating  broad  tracts  of  land,  and 
calling  for  the  most  decisive  and  energetic  means  for  their  suppression. 

Splenic  fever  is  not  an  epizootic,  properly  so  called.  It  is  not  propagated  through 
time  and  space  by  contagion.  The  true  plague  of  animals,  or  epizootics,  such  as  the  Rus 
sian  murrain  or  rinderpest,  the  lung  plague  or  contagious  pleuropneumonia  of  cattle,  the 
foot  and  the  mouth  diseases  of  all  warm-blooded  animals,  variolous  fevers,  hydrophobia, 
and  the  like,  spread  by  direct  or  indirect  transference  of  an  animal  poison,  a  virus,  from  sick 
to'healthy  animals;  and  in  the  Old  World  the  sick,  as  a  rule,  indicate,  by  very  manifest 
outward  symptoms,  the  disease  under  which  they  are  laboring.  The  poisons  take  effect 
without  regard  to  seasons,  and  are  alike  developed  in  the  systems  of  sick  animals.  It  is  not 
contact  between  Texan  and  southern  or  western  cattle  that  induces  the  malady;  and,  so 
far  as  recorded  observations  and  my  own  inquiries  at  present  extend,  the  animals  contami 
nated  by  feeding  on  Texan  trails  have  not  in  a  single  instance  propagated  the  disease  to 
other  animals.  Indeed,  I  have  not  met  with  one  instance  where  sucking  calves  have 
caught  the  affection  from  their  dams,  or  from  other  cows  which  they  have  been  made  to 
suck.  Many  cases  have  come  under  my  observation  of  cattle  in  Illinois,  Indiana,  and 
elsewhere,  coming  in  contact  with  Texan  cattle  through  a  fence,  by  drinking  of  the  same 
water,  and  even  being  housed  in  sheds  with  sick  natives,  and  yet  escaping  the  disease. 
We  must,  therefore,  distinguish  it  from  the  contagious  maladies  alluded  to,  and  refer  it  to 
another  group. 

Splenic  fever  is  an  enzootic.  It  originates  in  various  parts  of  the  Gulf  States. 
Florida  cattle  driven  north  are  as  dangerous  as  Texans,  deriving  the  same  deleterious 
properties  from  the  soil  on  which  they  are  reared,  and  in  all  probability  the  vegetation 
on  which  they  feed.  In  the  South,  splenic  fever  is  distinctly  indigenous,  and,  so  far  as 


120  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Texas  is  concerned,  I  have  satisfied  myself  that  the  disease  is  universally  prevalent  in 
that  State. 

Its  complete  manifestation  is  readily  witnessed  in  States  north  of  34°  north  latitude. 
Here  the  malady  can  no  longer  be  declared  indigenous ;  but  there  are  numerous  instances 
which  can  be  cited  of  purely  enzootic  diseases  spreading  a  certain  distance  by  contagion. 
Two  of  the  most  marked  instances  arc  furnished  us  by  the  malignant  anthrax  of  Russia, 
better  known  as  the  Siberian  boil  plague,  and  the  milk-sickness,  or  trembles,  of  the  United 
States. 

The  milk-sickness  is  due  to  cattle  feeding  on  low  woodland  pastures,  where  certain 
poisonous  plants  abound.  It  originates  only  in  a  very  limited  area  of  country;  but  the 
animals  may  travel,  and  their  flesh  and  milk  will  communicate  the  disease  when  eaten 
by  other  animals,  and  even  by  human  beings.  Trembles  is,  therefore,  an  enzootic  disorder, 
capable  of  being  primarily  produced  only  in  definite  localities;  but  the  poison  which  con 
taminates  the  food  is  capable,  through  that  food,  of  attacking  a  second  and  a  third 
animal,  or  as  many  as  partake  of  it.  There  is  another  striking  similarity  between  the 
course  of  milk-sickness  and  splenic  fever.  The  animal  food,  poisoned  in  the  disease-pro 
ducing  district,  may  show  no  signs  of  disease,  unless  subjected  to  a  definite  existing  cause, 
such  as  being  driven  or  frightened.  In  classifying  trembles  among  the  diseases  of  the 
lower  animals  we  should  undoubtedly  place  it  among  the  effects  of  vegetable  poisons,  and 
study  it  as  a  very  remarkable  toxicological  phenomenon.  I  should  be  disposed  to  deal 
with  splenic  fever  in  the  same  way.  Southern  cattle,  accustomed  to  feed  on  certain  pas 
tures  in  Florida  and  Texas,  thrive,  and  their  systems  become  charged  with  principles 
which  are  thrown  off  in  the  excretions  for  many  weeks,  and  probably  two  or  three  months 
after  they  leave  their  native  soil.  Herds  of  these  animals  necessarily  deposit  a  large 
amount  of  whatever  they  excrete  ;  and  thus  pastures  are  contaminated,  the  grasses  of 
which  prove  deadly  poisons  to  healthy  and  susceptible  cattle.  It  is  certain  that  the  feeding 
of  cattle  on  the  land  over  which  Texan  animals  have  passed  is  the  ordinary,  and  probably 
invariable,  cause  of  splenic  fever. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  disease  manifests  itself  tend  to  favor  the  view 
that  it  is  allied  to  the  numerous  forms  of  anthrax  fever  which  prevail  very  generally  in 
hot  countries,  and  usually  in  low  lands.  These  diseases,  it  is  true,  are  scattered  through 
out  the  temperate  /.one;  but  their  development  depends  upon  heat,  wherever  it  appears  on 
stiff,  retentive  soils,  and  in  some  sandy  but  fertile  lands  their  ravages  are  especially  wit 
nessed  during  wret  seasons.  Heat  favors  and  creates  the  manifestations  of  splenic  fever. 
The  malady  springs  in  a  warm  country,  and  is  propagated  most  readily  with  heat  and 
drought.  It  is  indigenous  where  vegetation  is  rank,  and  the  soil  is  charged  with  an  excess 
of  organic  life,  which,  for  want  of  direction,  tends  to  waste  and  mischief.  During  the 
hot  summer  months  anthrax  or  carbuncular  fevers  force  the  stock-owners  of  Southern 
Europe  to  seek  the  hills  with  their-flocks  of  sheep  and  goats;  and  to  disregard  this  injunc 
tion  involves,  not  onlv  the  death  of  their  animals,  but  the  destruction  of  other  warm-blooded 

v 

creatures,  including  man  himself,  by  malignant  pustule.  To  this  category  undoubtedly 
belonged  the  various  pests  of  old;  and,  by  traveling  northward,  the  virulence  of  these 
diseases,  the  development  of  the  anthrax  poison,  and  the  propagation,  under  any  circum 
stances,  by  contagion,  diminish  by  simple  and  imperceptible  gradations,  and  ultimately 
cease.  The  black-water  of  Great  Britain  and  of  America  is  one  of  the  forms  of  this 
deadly  anthrax,  which,  even  so  far  north  as  Aberdeen,  in  Scotland,  has  been  communi- 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  121 

cated,  by  the  flesh  eaten,  to  a  whole  family  of  human  beings,  who  succumbed  from 
malignant  pustule.  The  Siberian  boil  plague  is  one  of  the  typical  forms  of  anthrax,  and 
its  history  in  relation  to  splenic  fever  is  interesting,  inasmuch  as  it  occurs  in  a  vast  country, 
where  stock  is  driven  in  masses  from  the  east  westward  ;  and  an  opportunity  is  thus 
afforded  for  contagious  transmission  which  is  not  often  witnessed  elsewhere. 

Many  so-called  blood  diseases,  all  enzootic  in  their  nature,  and  capable  of  limited 
transmission,  are  classified  by  the  ablest  veterinary  pathologists  of  France  and  Germany 
with  the  anthrax  fevers.  In  Germany  the  most  destructive  forms  are  so  often  characterized 
by  enlargement,  softening,  and  even  rupture  of  the  spleen,  that  the  forms  of  anthrax  are 
included  under  a  generic  term,  "  Mihbrand."  The  condition  of  the  spleen  in  splenic  fever 
would  induce  many  a  pathologist  to  classify  it  unhesitatingly  among  the  forms  of  "Mih 
brand."  But  there  is  a  line  of  demarcation  which,  in  my  opinion,  can  be  fairly  established. 

Southern  cattle  capable  of  propagating  this  disease  usually  start  from  their  homes  in 
the  winter  or  early  in  spring.  They  do  not  die,  as  is  always  the  case  where  anthrax  originates, 
in  large  numbers,  so  as  to  attract  decided  attention,  on  the  lands  which  foster  the  develop 
ment  of  that  subtle  poison  they  carry  northward.  Their  systems  are  not  charged  with  an 
inoculable  virus,  such  as  the  anthrax  poison  always  is,  when  there  is  a  sufficient  heat  to 
develop  it.  The  heat  during  the  summer  of  1868  was  higher  than  is  usually  required  for 
the  production  of  the  anthrax  virus.  The  best  and  fattest  animals  in  a  herd  are  the  first 
to  die  of  anthrax,  and  death  is  sudden  and  unexpected;  an  animal  in  the  apparent  enjoy 
ment  of  health  at  night  is  dead  before  morning,  or  seen  well  in  the  morning  and  found 
dead  by  noon.  French  authors  speak  of  their  dying  "d'une  apoplexie  fulminante."  Had 
the  cattle  which  have  been  slaughtered  as  human  food  during  the  past  summer,  in  Chicago 
and  elsewhere,  been  tainted  with  a  true  anthrax,  as  they  have  been  with  splenic  fever,  medi 
cal  reports  would  have  developed  many  instances  of  malignant  pustule  in  man,  which  they 
have  not  done.  With  the  thermometer  at  108°  or  110°  such  a  result  would  have  been 
inevitable. 

There  is  one  disease  in  Europe,  which  prevails  in  various  parts  of  the  United  King 
dom,  and  is  common  on  woodland  pastures  during  the  spring  and  summer  months,  which 
presents  most  of  the  characteristics  of  splenic  fever.  It  is  the  black-water,  enzootic 
ha3maturia,  or  bloody  urine,  which  on  the  banks  of  the  Dee,  in  Aberdeenshire,  is  termed 
the  "darn."  The  Germans  call  it  "  JBlutharnen,"  "  JRothharnen,"  " Maiseucke, "  "  Weide- 
bruch,"  and  speak  of  it  as  an  enzootic  occurring  in  spring  and  summer  among  "grazing" 
cattle.  It  is  described  as  characterized  by  bloody  urine  and  weakness  of  gait  in  hind 
quarters,  associated  in  some  cases  with  intense  fever,  and  in  others  with  the  weakness  of 
anaemia,  or  the  bloodless  state.  There  is  sometimes  discharge  of  a  little  blood  with  the 
faeces.  There  is  occasionally  diarrhoea,  but  more  commonly  the  excrement  is  nearly  of 
normal  character.  After  death  the  bladder  is  found  distended  with  bloody  urine;  the 
kidneys  are  dark  colored,  and  their  pelves  distended  with  similar  urine;  the  blood  is  dark, 
the  liver  usually  light  colored,  but  the  spleen  congested,  and  of  a  dark  color,  and  there 
are  blood  extravasations  on  the  mucous  and  the  serous  membrane.  Indeed,  Spinola  speaks 
of  the  fourth  stomach,  and  even  the  intestines,  as  being  much  inflamed.  It  is  important 
and  instructive  to  notice  the  circumstances  under  which  enzootic  hsematuria  occurs  in  Great 
Britain,  and  other  parts  of  Europe.  Since  the  introduction  of  turnip  husbandry,  a  malady 
has  arisen  among  cows,  after  calving,  which  is  usually  known  as  "red  water,"  due  to  the 
16 


122  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

condition  of  turnips  grown  on  ill-drained  lands.  Tn  1850  T  was  engaged  in  investigating 
the  diseases  of  Aberdeenshire  and  Kincardineshire,  for  the  Highland  and  Agricultural 
Society  of  Scotland.  I  then  distinctly  ascertained  that  tracts  of  land  of  the  same  charac 
ter,  and  adjoining  one  another,  grew  turnips  capable  or  incapable  of  producing  the  dis 
ease,  according  to  the  state  of  drainage.  Indeed,  farmers  whose  lands  were  well  cultivated 
were  sometimes  surrounded  by  poor  people,  growing  turnips  on  small  plats,  or  so-called 
"pendules,"  of  the  same  lands,  but  without  the  advantages  of  good  drainage.  The  farm 
ers'  cows  were  healthy;  whereas  those  fed  on  the  poor  people's  crops  suffered  from  "red 
water,"  after  calving.  This  is  a  distinct  form  of  enzootic  hrernaturia,  due  apparently  to 
some  modifications  in  the  character  of  a  root,  grown  on  damp  and  retentive  soils.  It  is, 
therefore,  proved  that  the  conditions  of  soil  may  injuriously  affect  domestic  animals,  and 
produce  a  definite  and  distinct  disease,  through  foods  that  are  usually  wholesome.  But 
the  enzootic  luematuria  which  does  not  depend  on  a  root  crop,  and  which  attacks  steers, 
heifers,  pregnant  and  even  calving  cows,  has  usually  been  ascribed,  like  the  milk-sick 
ness  of  Illinois,  to  some  definite  poison ;  and  the  singular  manifestations  of  the  disease, 
as  it  travels  from  Texas,  would  give  weight  to  such  an  opinion.  The  "darn"  of  Aber 
deenshire  was  supposed  at  one  time  to  be  due  to  a  harmless,  wild  anemone,  and  afterward 
to  the  "darnel  grass,"  or  Lolium  temulentum ;  but  the  opinion  which  I  formed  on  the 
spot  was,  that  the  cattle  died  from  eating  the  young  shoots  of  oaks,  and  other  astringent 
plants. 

Medical  men  have  had  their  attention  directed  to  this  subject  during  the  past  sum 
mer;  and,  in  some  instances,  they  have  referred  to  it  as  a  malignant  typhus  or  typhoid 
fever.  It  is  widely  different  from  both  in  its  origin,  development,  and  progress.  The 
morbid  lesions,  so  far  as  blood  extravasations  are  concerned,  might  suggest  an  analogy  to 
typhus;  but  this  is  not  the  only  disease  associated  with  blood  changes  and  petechise.  Who 
ever  saw  a  spontaneous  development  of  malignant  typhus  on  the  healthy,  open  prairies 
of  this  country,  even  in  man?  If  it  be  typhus,  how  is  it  that  it  is  not  contagious,  and 
certainly  not  infectious?  If  typhus,  why  do  not  the  sick  western  steers  communicate  it  as 
readily  as  the  Texan  cattle?  It  is  assuredly  neither  typhus  nor  typhoid  fever;  and  its  origin, 
in  the  causes  which  we  have  reason  to  believe  operate  most  in  its  production  in  the  South, 
approaches  ague  more  closely  than  any  other  disorder.  Splenic  fever  is  not  an  intermit 
tent  or  remittent  disease;  but  it  probably  manifests  itself  spontaneously  in  districts,  such 
as  are  commonly  invaded  by  malaria,  and  this  is  what  we  see  constantly  in  relation  to  the 
enzootic  diseases  of  animals,  and  especially  those  in  which  the  spleen  has  a  tendency  to 
congestion,  hemorrhage,  and  enlargement. 

There  is  really  no  analogue  in  man,  so  far  as  my  observations  extend ;  and,  in  stating 
that  the  circumstances  of  its  development  resemble  the  reputed  results  of  malarioua 
intoxication,  it  must  not  be  thought  that  I  believe  in  the  commonly  accepted,  but  very 
vague  and  unsatisfactory,  notions  as  to  the  nature  of  malaria.  The  conclusions,  therefore, 
which  I  am  disposed  to  draw  from  all  the  facts  and  arguments  adduced  in  relation  to  the 
causes  and  nature  of  splenic  fever,  are — 

1.  That  southern  cattle,  especially  from  the  Gulf  coast,  are  affected  with  a  latent  or 
an  apparent  form  of  the  disease. 

2.  That  they  become  affected  in  consequence  of  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  vegetation 
on  which  they  are  fed,  and  the  water  which  they  drink. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  123 

3.  That  their  systems  are  charged  with  poisonous  principles  which  accumulate  in  the 
bodies  of  acclimatized  animals  that  enjoy  an  immunity. 

4.  That  southern  cattle  may  be  driven  so  as  to  improve  in  condition;  and  yet  for 
some  weeks,  and  probably  not  less  than  three  months,  continue  to  excrete  the  deleterious 
principles  which  poison  the  cattle  of  the  States  through  which  the  herds  are  driven  on  their 
way  north  or  west. 

5.  That  all   breeds  of  cattle  in  States  north  of  those  on  the   Gulf  coast,  without 
regard  to  age  or  sex,  if  they  feed  on  grass  contaminated  by  southern  droves,  are  attacked 
by  the  splenic  fever;  that  the  disease  may  be,  but  is  very  rarely,  propagated  through  the 
feeding  of  hay. 

6.  That  the  disease  occurs  mainly  during  the  hot  months  of  summer  and  autumn,  and 
never  after  the  wild  grasses  have  been  killed  by  frosts,  until  the  mild  weather  in  spring 
returns ;  that  then  the  grasses  are  healthy,  and  continue  healthy,  unless  fresh  droves  of 
Texan  or  of  Florida  cattle  are  driven  over  the  land. 

7.  That  heat  and  drought  aggravate  the  disease  in  individual  animals. 

8.  That  there  is  not  the  slightest  foundation  for  the  view  that  the  ticks  disseminate 
the  disease. 

9.  That  the  splenic  fever  does  not  belong  to  that  vast  and  deadly  group  of  purely 
contagious  and  infectious  diseases  of  which  the  rinderpest,  the  lung  plague,  and  eruptive 
fevers  are  typical. 

10.  That  it  is  an  enzootic,  due  to  local  influences,  capable  of  only  a  limited  spread, 
and  analogous  to  or  identical  with  the  "black  water"  of  various  parts  of  Europe. 

11.  That,  however  warm  the  weather  may  be,  cattle  affected  with  splenic  fever 
have  not  developed  in  their  systems  any  poison  like  the  anthrax  poison;  and  that  the 
flesh,  blood,  and  other  tissues  of  animals  are  incapable  of  inducing  any  disease  in  man  or 
animals. 

12.  That  splenic  fever  is  not  malignant  typhus  or  typhoid  fever.     That  it  has  no 
analogue  among  human  diseases,  but  is,  however,  developed  under  conditions  which  prevail 
where  the  so-called  malaria  injuriously  affects  the  human  health. 

CURATIVE  TREATMENT. 

The  great  majority  of  epizootic  and  enzootic  diseases  never  can,  and  never  will,  be 
arrested  by  the  medical  treatment  of  the  sick.  Even  the  benignant  epizootic  aphthae, 
which  is  rarely  fatal,  spreads  rapidly  through  a  country;  and,  in  the  long  run,  owing  to 
the  certainty  and  rapidity  of  its  transmission,  entails  more  loss  than  some  of  the  most  fatal 
diseases.  Splenic  fever  may  be  classed  among  the  incurable  maladies,  inasmuch  as  we  know 
of  no  antidote  to  the  mysterious  poison  inducing  it;  and,  while  we  can  alleviate  some  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  affected  cattle,  a  very  trifling  measure  of  success  attends  the  most 
assiduous  nursing  and  medication.  Bleeding  has  been,  in  some  parts,  a  favorite  remedy; 
and  I  have  known  one  animal  recover  either  in  consequence  or  in  spite  of  the  remedy. 
Purgatives  have  been  freely  and  fairly  tried,  with  good  result  in  very  few  instances,  and 
with  depressing  and  killing  influences  in  many  more. 

The  "red  water"  of  cows  in  Scotland  is  often  cured  by  opiates,  which  check  the  dis 
charge  of  blood;  and  with  alcoholic  stimulants  in  moderation,  with  the  free  use  of  mucil 
aginous  drinks.  I  have  tried  the  same  treatment  in  splenic  fever,  with  little  or  no  success. 


124  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Page  after  page  might  be  filled  with  notes  on  the  administration  of  nitrate  and  of  chlorate 
of  potash,  iodide  of  potassium,  quinine,  salts  of  iron,  sesquicarbonate  of  ammonia,  Epsom 
or  Glauber's  salts,  sulphur,  ginger,  calomel,  soap,  and  oil ;  and  even  guano  from  the 
goose  cote  has  been  said  "frequently  to  effect  a  cure,  given  in  doses  of  one  quart,  until  a 
thorough  evacuation  is  produced."  A  reporter  from  Woodson  County,  Kansas,  says  this 
is  "a  sovereign  and  unfailing  remedy  for  the  dry  murrain."  None  of  these  agents  (and 
some  have  been  extolled  as  specific)  have  affected  the  steady  progress  and  fatality  of  the 
disease. 

Shelter,  protection  from  flies,  linseed  or  flaxseed  tea,  friction  of  the  limbs,  and  injec 
tions,  are  humane,  and,  to  a  trifling  extent,  useful  expedients.  I  have  seen  cows  return  to 
nearly  their  full  quantity  of  milk  on  such  treatment,  with  the  aid  of  half-ounce  doses  of 
sulphuric  ether,  in  four  ounces  of  the  solution  of  the  acetate  of  ammonia  and  a  quart  of 
water,  given  thrice  daily.  Relief  has  been  afforded  by  giving  an  ounce  of  tincture  of 
opium  for  the  first  day  or  two ;  but  to  enter  further  into  the  history  of  experiments  on  this 
point  is  to  recount  a  history  of  failures  such  as  the  world  is  accustomed  to,  in  speaking  of 
the  medical  treatment  of  human  cholera  and  small-pox,  or  rinderpest  and  the  deadly  forms 
of  anthrax  in  cattle. 

THE  PREVENTION  OP  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

The  main  object  of  the  investigation  which  has  brought  to  light  the  facts  noted  in 
the  foregoing  pages,  has  been  the  discovery  of  means  whereby  the  direct  and  the  indirect 
losses  sustained  for  several  years  past,  but  especially  in  1868,  may  not  again  harass  Amer 
ican  farmers,  and  injure  the  traders  in  Texan  cattle.  Hitherto  the  only  measures  sug 
gested,  and  very  partially  adopted,  have  consisted  either  in  prohibiting  the  importation  of 
southern  cattle  into  certain  States,  or  portions  of  States;  and,  in  one  instance,  in  prevent 
ing  their  introduction  only  during  the  summer  months. 

Stringent  laws  have  failed  to  avert  the  most  disastrous  and  wide-spread  losses;  and 
while  on  the  one  hand  persons  interested  in  the  Texan  trade  have  justified  their  inattention 
to  legal  restrictions  by  declaring  them  one  and  all  unconstitutional,  instances  have  not 
been  wanting  of  mob  law  adopting  its  own  expedients.  Dealers  and  farmers  who  owned 
southern  cattle  have  been  threatened — they  have  been  pounced  on  in  the  dead  of  night, 
that  they  might  surely  be  found  in  their  homes — and  there  and  then  they  have  been 
requested  to  attend  meetings  of  indignant  and  impoverished  neighbors.  Lastly,  the  stam 
peding  and  shooting  of  Texan  cattle,  whenever  and  wherever  they  might  be  seen,  have 
been  the  mild  alternatives  which  seem  to  have  satisfied  a  thirst  for  revenge ;  or,  in  some 
instances,  human  life  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  sacrificed.  Indeed,  threats  have 
been  numerous,  and  heavy  bonds  or  the  actual  payment  of  cash  for  dead,  dying,  and 
infected  stock,  have  alone  saved  the  persons  of  traders,  commission  agents,  and  farmers, 
who  happened  to  have  any  dealings  in  long-horned  beeves.  The  prevention  of  splenic 
fever,  therefore,  implies,  in  many  instances,  the  prevention  of  lawlessness  and  the  preserva 
tion  of  the  public  peace. 

We  have  seen  that  splenic  fever  is  a  malady  indigenous  to  Texas.  It  is  there  an 
enzootic,  and  whatever  may  be  the  plant  or  plants  inducing  the  disorder,  it  is  indisputable 
that  the  conditions  exist  there  which  are.  rife  in  all  parts  of  the  world  where  enzootic 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER,  125 

blood  diseases,  fatal  parasitic  maladies,  and  periodic  outbreaks  of  mysterious  affections, 
which  annihilate  herds  and  even  depopulate  districts,  occasionally  prevail. 

The  extirpation  of  noxious  plants,  the  purification  of  streams,  the  equalization  of 
the  balance  between  animal  and  plant  life  on  a  given  extent  of  soil,  are  agricultural 
problems  which  cannot,  in  Texas,  be  solved  for  generations  to  come.  Thorough  drainage, 
breaking  up  pasture  lands,  fencing  off  low  wood  lands  which  are  crammed  with  a  disease- 
producing  vegetation,  are  measures  neglected  even  in  Great  Britain,  and  will  tax  the  indus 
try  and  capital  of  many  of  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  the  present  race  of  farmers,  north, 
east,  and  west,  in  the  United  States;  how  much  longer,  then,  must  the  exuberant  soil  of 
Texas  wait  for  the  hands  and  the  brains  engaged  in  making  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where 
there  was  once  but  one?  Fertile,  and  reeking  with  the  decay  of  excess  as  it  is,  we  can 
not  anticipate  the  time  when  it  will  be  so  densely  peopled  as  to  secure  attention  to  definite 
sanitary  laws  which,  if  not  impracticable  under  the  circumstances,  might  be  applied  for 
the  prevention  of  splenic  fever  in  Texas,  Florida,  or  wherever  else  it  may  be  discovered  to 
exist  as  an  enzootic. 

The  question  next  presents  itself  whether  the  trade  in  live  cattle  between  the  South 
and  the  North  is  to  be  permitted.  Its  annihilation  would  effectually  prevent  such  out 
breaks,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  study;  but  such  an  expedient,  though  it  might  commend 
itself  to  some  short-sighted  farmers  in  Illinois  and  Indiana,  would  not  be  tolerated.  It  is 
true  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  difficulties  experienced  in  the  past,  wherever  attempts 
have  been  made  in  the  South  to  slaughter,  and  consign  their  animal  produce  to  northern 
and  other  markets,  the  time  will  arrive,  in  all  probability,  for  some  such  outlet  to  be 
secured.  But,  with  beef  at  twenty,  twenty-five,  or  thirty  cents  per  pound  in  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  and  Boston,  with  the  packing  interests  of  Chicago,  and  the  demands  of  Europe, 
especially  in  times  of  war,  it  is  idle  to  contemplate  the  fencing  in  of  steers,  which  may  be 
purchased  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  at  eight  or  ten  dollars  a  head  in  Texas. 
The  prairie  lands  of  States  favored  by  geographical  position,  and  nearest  the  great  cen 
ters  of  consumption  for  all  animal  produce,  cannot  be  utilized  for  some  time  to  come  with 
out  the  advantage  of  supplying  food  for  stock  bred  at  a  little  cost  elsewhere. 

To  suit  a  northern  trade  the  Texan  will  doubtless  attend  to  crossing  his  cattle  with 
short-horned  blood;  and  this,  while  it  will  encourage  the  purchase  of  such  animals  by  the 
farmers  of  Missouri,  Illinois,  and  Indiana,  will  in  no  way  tend  to  modify  splenic  fever. 
Fortunately  for  all,  it  is  possible  to  establish  rules  which,  if  intelligently  attended  to,  will 
effectually  protect  any  susceptible  animal  from  destruction  by  contact  with  members  of  its 
own  race  from  the  Gulf  States.  All  these  rules  must  aim  at  a  complete  isolation  for  a 
sufficient  period  of  time. 

With  our  present  state  of  knowledge  it  is  imperative  that  we  should  deal  with  all 
cattle  from  the  Gulf  States  in  the  same  way.  But  numerous  observations  warrant  us  in 
believing  that  a  careful  study  of  the  geographical  distributions  of  the  splenic  fever  in  the 
South  would  indicate  that  there  are  broad  tracts  of  land  in  Texas  where  the  stock  is  free 
from  all  contamination,  and  may,  in  all  probability,  be  freely  mixed  with  cattle  in  any 
part  of  the  States.  It  would  not  be  safe  to  indicate  the  regions  supposed  to  be  healthy, 
as  they  may  be  more  or  less  intersected  by  plague-stricken  spots;  but  it  is  safe  to  assert 
that  the  most  decided  and  best  ascertained  manifestations  of  disease,  and  capability  of 


126  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

communicating  disease,  have  been  observed  among  herds  derived  from  and  near  the  Gulf 
coast. 

That  the  hardships  and  privations  to  which  Gulf-coast  cattle  are  subjected  in  being 
transported  to  New  Orleans,  and  up  the  Mississippi  in  steamers,  may  act  as  existing  causes 
to  the  full  development  of  fatal  symptoms  is  probable ;  but  such  and  similar  prejudicial 
influences  do  not,  and  cannot,  engender  the  disease.  They  may  facilitate  intelligent 
observations;  and  a  competent  veterinarian,  inspecting  the  dead  and  injured  cattle  taken 
into  the  port  of  New  Orleans  or  landed  at  Cairo,  might  add  very  largely  to  our  store  of 
knowledge  on  this  and  allied  subjects.  Such  inspection  might  be  of  value  in  securing  the 
isolation  of  badly  infected  herds,  inasmuch  as  ordinary  observers  have  noticed,  where 
opportunities  were  afforded  for  seeing  many  herds  from  the  Gulf  coast,  that  some  were 
apparently  sound,  while  others  numbered  many  sick  and  dying  animals.  Wherever  such 
cattle  are  landed  there  should  be  a  sufficient  amount  of  closely-fenced  land,  beyond  which 
the  cattle  should  not  be  permitted  to  pass  on  foot.  They  might  be  transported  thence  by 
rail,  but  only  to  definite  points  for  immediate  slaughter,  or  to  certain  stations  on  railroad 
lands,  where  they  can  be  placed  alone,  and  without  coming  in  contact  with  other  cattle. 

There  are  serious  impediments  in  the  way  which  may  prevent  the  adoption  of  the 
last  suggestion ;  but,  having  stated  the  principles  which  should  govern  legislation  in  this 
matter,  we  must  leave  the  practical  working  of  any  well-matured  scheme  to  those  whose 
interests  are  at  stake.  Thus,  if  the  stock  taken  from  the  cars  at  Tolono  (and  which 
destroyed  almost  every  cow  owned  there)  had  been  unloaded  by  the  inhabitants  in  inclosed 
yards  at  a  distance  from  the  town,  and  then  driven  through  a  fenced  road  on  which  no 
other  cattle  were  permitted  to  pass,  it  would  have  caused  no  loss.  It  must  be  left  to  local 
authorities  to  state  whence,  when,  and  how  such  stock  shall  be  driven  to  secure  such 
isolation;  and  it  will  probably  be  found  most  practicable,  under  such  circumstances,  to 
limit  the  traveling  of  Texan  cattle  on  foot  to  the  winter  season,  when  the  grasses  are 
withered  and  the  local  stock  is  tended  at  home.  Indeed,  if  a  definite  tract  of  prairie 
ground  is  devoted  anywhere  to  the  Texan  trade,  the  conditions  required  for  the  prevention 
of  splenic  fever  consist  in  the  people  keeping  their  cattle  on  their  own  inclosed  farms  or 
in  well-fenced  yards  and  feeding  sheds. 

A  visit  to  the  far  West  will  convince  any  impartial  person  that  judgment  and  enter 
prise  can  be  exercised  with  a  certainty  of  success  in  enabling  Texan  drovers  to  drive  to 
points  on  the  Union  Pacific  Road,  Eastern  Division,  where  they  can  do  no  harm  Traveling 
north  from  Texas  through  the  Indian  Nation  into  Western  Kansas  can  inflict  no  injury. 
With  the  completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  Road  to  San  Francisco,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
drovers  may  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  drive  further  than  they  usually  do  now,  and 
make  for  other  stations;  but,  whatever  course  they  adopt  in  this  respect,  they  can  safely 
relieve  the  overstocked  State  of  Texas  by  utilizing  the  vast  prairies  of  the  West  in  their 
important  trade. 

The  question  to  settle  is  whether  they  should  travel  earlier  in  the  season  or  later.  It 
is  my  opinion  that,  if  they  wish  to  hear  no  more  of  splenic  fever,  they  should  reach 
Western  Kansas  in  the  summer  or  in  early  autumn,  keeping  their  stock  fresh  on  the 
abundant  grasses,  and  shipping  it  East  when  the  packing  season  commences,  about  the 
middle  of  October.  An  experiment  on  a  large  scale  has  been  made  by  Messrs.  McCoy 
Brothers,  at  Abilene.  This  spot  on  the  eastern  division  of  the  Union  Pacific  Road  was 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  127 

selected  as  the  most  isolated,  and  it  is  situated  within  four  hundred  miles  of  the  Texan 
frontier  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  miles  west  from  the  State  line 

It  is  east  of  the  sixth  meridian,  which  is  the  line  established  by  the  laws  of  Kansas 
as  the  limit  over  which  Texan  cattle  shall  not  pass  ;  but,  by  common  consent,  the  advan 
tages  offered  by  this  spot  have  been  hitherto  secured  to  the  Texan  trade.  The  yards  were 
completed  by  the  5th  of  September,  1867,  and  from  that  time  to  the  close  of  the  season 
one  thousand  car  loads  of  cattle  were  shipped  east  from  Abilene.  The  trade,  therefore, 
began  late,  the  season  was  wet,  and  the  Texas  fever  gave  no  concern.  This  year,  how 
ever,  large  herds  were  collected  early  in  the  spring  in  Texas,  and  the  first  car  load  of 
cattle  left  Abilene  on  the  10th  of  June. 

The  people  of  the  new  town  and  its  neighborhood  had  accumulated  more  live  stock 
than  they  had  last  year,  and,  without  taking  the  precaution  which  could  readily  have 
been  adopted,  permitted  their  cattle  to  go  over  the  ground  traversed  by  Texan  stock,  and 
"black-water"  appeared  among  them. 

It  is  evident  that,  as  the  property  of  a  very  large  and  important  town  may  be  founded 
on  this  very  traffic,  precautionary  measures  should  be  adopted  for  the  isolation  of  the  local 
stock.  There  can  be  no  difficulty  in  this;  and,  with  the  experience  of  1867  before  us, 
the  system  of  driving  late  for  the  fall  markets  is  calculated  to  preserve  the  most  promising 
of  all  outlets  for  southern  farmers  and  drovers.  There  are  objections,  perhaps,  to  this 
plan ;  but,  since  it  is  impossible  for  the  trade  to  go  on  in  a  reckless  and  ill-regulated 
manner,  it  is  for  the  interest  of  all  that  the  least  objectionable  plan,  and  yet  the  one  most 
certain  to  prevent  the  ravages  by  disease,  should  be  adopted. 

We  are  not  in  a  position  to  recommend  any  system  of  quarantine ;  but  all  who  intend 
to  further  the  interests  of  this  trade  should  remember  that  during  the  summer  season 
they  cannot,  without  damaging  their  business,  intermingle  southern  with  northwestern 
stock.  The  line  of  demarcation  must  be  distinct;  and  whereas  in  some  places  the  local 
stock  must  be  fenced  in,  in  others  the  Texan  steers  will  have  to  submit  to  some  crowding, 
and  conditions  which  are  not  the  most  favorable  for  so  large  a  trade. 

GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  THE  PRECEDING  REPORTS. 

The  diseases  of  cattle  which  form  the  subjects  of  the  three  reports  herewith  published 
are  typical  of  three  distinct  classes  of  disorders  which  tend  to  the  impoverishment  of  the 
farmer  and  the  country  at  large. 

The  first  and  simplest  in  its  origin  and  character  is  an  enzootic  or  indigenous  affection, 
localized  in  corn-growing  States  and  districts,  where,  under  the  influence  of  abundant 
moisture  and  inattention  to  conditions  which  prevent  the  propagation  of  parasitic  plants 
on  the  farmer's  crops,  a  fungus  is  formed  which  destroys  the  nutritive  value  of  cornstalks 
and  grain.  These  become  indigestible,  induce  impaction  of  the  third  stomach  and  consti 
pation,  which  speedily  terminate  in  death.  The  malady  is  not  propagated  beyond  the 
farm  or  stable  where  the  diseased  fodder  is  supplied  to  stock. 

The  third  is  the  American  cattle  plague  of  1868,  which,  from  an  ignorance  of  its 
origin  and  nature,  created  serious  loss,  and,  what  is  probably  as  bad,  a  panic  that  cannot 
readily  be  forgotten,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Its  study  has  revealed  characters 


128  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

hitherto  unknown  or  undescribed  in  relation  to  any  disease  of  man  or  animals.  The  facts 
rendered  show  that  it  is  developed  in  the  hotter  parts  of  the  United  States  bordering  on 
the  Gulf  coast,  where  lands  are  rich,  retentive,  and  undrained,  and  therefore  constitute 
the  hotbeds  of  malarious  or  periodic  diseases  in  the  human  family.  So  far  as  present 
knowledge  goes,  it  is  capable  of  propagation  in  an  intensified  form  among  cattle  which 
feed  on  pastures  traversed,  in  any  part  of  the  country  beyond  the  original  centers  of 
development,  by  southern  herds.  It  is  not  improbable  that  comparative  pathology  may 
here  shed  light  on  the  precise  nature  of  remittent  and  intermittent  fevers  in  man;  and 
the  fact  that  these  have  not  been  observed  to  extend  by  a  form  of  contagion  may  be 
explained  by  the  conditions  essential  to  the  propagation  of  the  bovine  periodic  fever. 
Large  masses  of  animals  travel  fresh  from  the  breeding  grounds  of  this  indigenous 
disease,  and  discharge  large  quantities  of  excrement  on  the  food  which  is  the  carrier  of 
the  morbid  material  into  the  systems  of  cattle  that  are  contaminated  and  die.  It  is  true 
that  anthrax,  Siberian  boil  plague,  or  carbuncular  fevers  generally,  from  a  peculiar  decom 
position  in  the  liquids  and  tissues  of  the  affected  animals,  are  capable  of  being  transferred 
by  its  inoculation,  under  favorable  circumstances,  to  healthy  people,  and  indeed  to  all 
warm-blooded  creatures ;  but  there  are  indigenous  maladies,  somewhat  allied  to  the  splenic 
fever  of  cattle,  developed  under  like  conditions,  and  capable  of  moderate  extension  from 
the  districts  where  they  originate  spontaneously.  But  the  cattle  in  the  South  are  affected 
Avith  a  malady  that  is  not  inoculable,  that  is  not  propagated  by  the  bites  of  insects  and 
by  the  transference  of  decomposed  or  poisoned  blood  and  tissues  into  the  structures  of 
healthy  men  or  animals,  and  manifests  in  its  method  of  propagation  more  of  the  features 
of  cholera  than  of  other  properly  recorded  malady.  It  does  not  belong  to  the  group  of 
epizootics  proper,  or  contagious  diseases  like  pleuropneumonia,  rinderpest,  and  the  varied 
forms  of  variola.  It  is  not  an  infectious  disease ;  and  the  single  observation  reported  by 
the  New  York  commissioners  cannot  outweigh  the  hundreds  we  have  observed  and  care 
fully  traced,  and  which  indicate  that  the  cattle  are  not  discharging,  by  their  breath  or 
skin,  into  the  air  around  them,  any  principles  capable  of  perpetuating  the  malady.  The 
plagues  proper  spread  regardless  of  soil,  climate,  food,  geological  formation,  altitude,  &c., 
wherever  sick  animals  approach  or  touch  healthy  ones.  Splenic  fever  is  not  communicated 
by  a  cow  to  its  calf,  and  is  absolutely  stopped  by  a  fence,  unless  some  accident  leads  to 
the  mingling  together  of  the  southern  animals  with  others  they  are  capable  of  injuring. 
The  malady,  engendered  with  peculiar  virulence  in  western  or  eastern  cattle,  is  not,  unless 
exceptionally' — and  no  properly  attested  exception  has  come  to  my  knowledge — commu 
nicated  by  these  to  other  animals  that  have  not  traversed  the  trails  of  Texan  or  other 
southern  herds.  It  is  a  modification,  a  poisoning  of  the  food  and  possibly  of  the  water 
tainted  by  the  manure  of  the  southern  cattle,  whereby  the  malady  is  transmitted.  It  is 
thus  with  human  cholera.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  that  splenic  fever  is  at  all  allied 
to  cholera  beyond  the  peculiar  and  ordinary  method  of  propagation  from  certain  centers. 
We  know  nothing  of  the  spontaneous  development  of  cholera  and  the  centers  whence  it 
springs.  We  can  witness  the  independent  and  primary  production  of  the  Texas  or  Florida 
fever  by  transporting  western  or  eastern  cattle  to  the  South,  where,  fed  on  the  pastures 
apart  from  other  animals,  they  contract  the  disease  and  die. 

Annually  the  Texan  steers  suffer,  so  far  as  my  observations  on  cattle  of  all  ages  go, 
from  this  same  local  influence,  which,  in  their  acclimatized  systems,  does  not  usually  lead 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  129 

to  death.  There  is  doubtless  something  tangible  and  ponderable,  which  some  future 
chemist  may  reveal,  that  renders  the  grasses,  and  perhaps  the  waters,  of  the  South  so 
deleterious. 

The  disease,  therefore,  to  which  the  third  of  the  annexed  reports  refers,  is  an  indigen 
ous  or  enzootic  malady,  susceptible  of  moderate  extension  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
grasses  of  healthy  regions  are  modified  by  the  manure  scattered  broadcast  from  the  systems 
of  southern  herds.  It  is  not  a  contagious  plague,  and  will  probably  cease  when  the  agri 
culture  of  the  South  is  fairly  and  fully  developed. 

Not  so  with  the  destructive  malady,  the  lung  plague  or  epizootic  pleuropneumonia, 
which  is  silently  but  seriously  ravaging  the  Eastern  States.  This  affection  constitutes  the 
subject  of  my  second  report.  Its  method  of  propagation,  by  diffusion  of  a  specific  animal 
poison  or  virus  through  the  air,  offers  an  instructive  contrast  to  the  comparatively  harm 
less  disease  of  the  South.  The  lung  plague  kills  slowly  and  surely  wherever  it  penetrates, 
without  regard  to  latitude,  breeds,  soils,  conditions  of  weather,  or  systems  of  cultivation. 
It  can  be  stamped  out;  and  its  propagation  in  a  mild  form  may  be  resorted  to  for  the  pro 
tection  of  cattle  that  have  been  suspected  of  entering  an  infected  area.  It  attacks  animals 
but  once  in  their  lifetime,  and  presents  all  the  characters  of  specific  eruptive  fevers,  of  which 
the  human  or  ovine  small-pox  may  be  regarded  typical. 

A  few  words  may  not  be  considered  inappropriate  as  to  the  nature  of  our  investiga 
tions.  They  have  extended  over  a  period  of  ten  months,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  United 
States  except  in  the  far  west.  The  furthest  point  west  which  was  reached  is  near  the 
terminus  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railroad,  and  southwest  to  Corpus  Christi.  The  great  object 
in  view  has  been  to  determine  and  demonstrate  with  precision  the  causes  and  signs  of  the 
several  diseases  examined,  with  a  view  to  the  suggestion  of  means  of  prevention  and  cure. 
The  history  of  special  outbreaks,  the  methods  of  extension,  the  essential  symptoms  and 
pathological  changes  indicated  by  sick  animals,  and  the  institution  of  careful  personal  in 
quiries  among  those  who  have  witnessed  the  maladies  at  different  periods,  have  engaged 
special  attention. 

We  were  first  in  having  opportunities  for  a  careful  study  of  the  changes  in  tempera 
ture  which  occur  in  splenic  fever,  and,  taken  in  conjunction  with  similar  observations  orig 
inally  made  by  us  in  relation  to  the  rinderpest  or  Russian  murrain,  and  since  in  numerous 
outbreaks  of  pleuropneumonia,  it  will  be  found  that  very  definite  and  highly  practical 
results  may  be  anticipated  from  persistence  in  this  method  of  observation.  Indeed,  so 
important  is  the  matter  in  connection  with  the  entire  subject  of  comparative  pathology, 
that  it  may  not  be  deemed  inappropriate  to  give  a  resume  of  our  operations  on  this  par 
ticular  point. 

Last  July  we  first  used  the  only  available  thermometers  that  could  be  obtained  in 
Chicago,  centigrade  thermometers,  of  French  manufacture.  The  Surgeon  General,  how-, 
ever,  kindly  acceded  to  a  request  made  through  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  two 
carefully-compared  self-registering  thermometers,  made  by  Mr.  L.  Casella,  of  London,  were 
forwarded  to  the  west  for  the  purpose  of  our  inquiries.  With  these  we  were  enabled  to 
correct  and  verify  the  earlier  observations.  The  normal  temperature  of  cattle  varies  from 
100°  to  102°  Fahrenheit.  The  average  temperature  of  Texan  cattle  is  from  one  to  two 
degrees  higher  than  that  of  northern  steers.  There  may  be  accidental  deviations,  of  which 
the  most  noticeable  is  at  the  period  of  oestrum,  when  a  cow  may  indicate  a  temperature  as 
17 


130  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

high  as  106°  Fahrenheit.  It  is,  however,  remarkable  how  difficult  it  is  in  healthy  animals 
to  cause  any  great  deviation  from  a  normal  standard,  even  during  the  hottest  days  of  a 
western  summer.  Comparative  observations  on  a  number  of  animals  at  the  same  time 
constitute  a  valuable  and  essential  test.  It  was,  however,  striking  and  strange  that  in 
examining  Texan  cattle  caught  with  the  lasso,  the  temperatures  obtained  were  the  same 
as  those  among  work  cattle  of  the  same  herds,  which,  could  be  handled  readily  near  the 
wagons.  Observations  of  this  kind  are  referred  to  in  the  report  on  splenic  fever. 

The  bes.t  part — and  the  only  one  which  should  be  chosen — for  the  insertion  of  the 
thermometer,  is  the  rectum.  The  instrument  must  be  introduced  as  nearly  as  possible  to 
the  same  extent  in  all  cases,  and  retained  in  situ  at  least  three  minutes.  Animals  are  apt 
to  defecate  soon  after  the  thermometer  is  passed  in,  and  the  rectum  then  remains  passive 
for  a  time.  This  necessitates  the  withdrawal  and  reintroduction  of  the  instrument,  and 
the  time  required  for  the  observation  must  be  taken  from  the  second  intromission. 

By  this  means  animals  in  apparent  health,  grazing  and  moving  in  perfect  comfort, 
are  often  found  sick;  and  in  the  case  of  a  contagious  disease  like  pleuropneumonia  this 
timely  warning  is  of  the  highest  moment. 

In  relation,  however,  to  the  nature  of  a  malady,  much  is  taught  us  by  the  thermome 
ter.  The  periodic  fever  of  southern  cattle  begins,  like  the  rinderpest,  with  an  increased 
heat  of  the  body.  The  local  changes  appear  secondary  to  the  general  fever,  though  it  is 
difficult  to  estimate  the  time  that  elapses  from  the  first  exaltations  of  temperature  to  the 
local  manifestations.  In  pleuropneumonia  it  is  probable,  and  indeed  our  observations  are 
almost  conclusive  on  the  point,  that  there  is  first  a  local  change  and  commencing  deposit. 
A  material  grows  and  penetrates,  charged  with  and  dependent  on  the  presence  of  a  specific 
poison,  and  when  it  has  sufficiently  involved  any  important  parts  and  become  complicated 
with  ordinary  inflammatory  changes,  the  general  fever  sets  in.  An  elevated  temperature 
is,  however,  observed  in  this  disease  long  before  a  farmer  or  dairyman  suspects  that  an 
animal  is  affected.  This  is  the  only  way  in  which  some  latent  cases  of  pleuropneumonia 
are  recognized. 

Scientific  men  have  hitherto  failed  in  tracing  the  distinctive  characters  of  organic 
poisons  which  differ  from  each  other,  and  are  only  recognized,  by  the  very  different  effects 
produced  on  the  animal  economy.  Some  attack  a  single  species  of  animal ;  others  induce 
the  same  disease  in  a  number  of  species.  The  lung-plague  poison  induces  its  characteristic 
effects  on  cattle;  the  poison  of  hydrophobia,  most  readily  communicated  among  feline  and 
carnivorous  animals,  is  deadly  to  the  omnivora  and  vegetable  feeders.  Of  the  peculiar 
principles  which  tend  to  the  diffusion  of  those  diseases  which  are  known  to  us  as  indigenous 
in  certain  latitudes,  and  which  we  must  distinguish  at  all  times,  in  classifying  diseases, 
from  the  contagious  maladies  of  no  known  primary  source,  we  have  two  equally  remark 
able  instances  in  the  splenic  fever  of  the  South  and  the  charbon  or  anthrax  of  many  parts 
of  the  world.  The  one  passes  from  cattle  to  cattle;  the  other  is  deadly  to  men,  horses, 
dogs,  pigs,  and  other  warm-blooded  animals. 

It  is  evident  that  principles  which  exert  such  a  variety  of  definite  influences  must 
have  fundamental  characters  to  distinguish  them — that  the  virus  of  smallpox  may  some 
day  be  capable  of  distinction  in  its  virus  form  from  the  virus  of  rinderpest  or  the  lung- 
plague. 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER.  131 

As  far  back  as  1849,  Mr.  L  E.  Plasse,  a  veterinary  surgeon  at  Niort,  Deux  Sevres, 
in  France,  published  a  work,  illustrated  by  tables  and  a  map,  in  which  he  announced  the 
discovery  of  the  causes  of  epizootics  and  epidemics,  with  the  distinguishing  features  of  two 
forms  of  charbon  or  anthrax,  the  one  gangrenous  and  the  other  virulent.*  It  is  a  common 
error,  due  mainly  to  the  undetermined  meaning  of  a  much-used  medical  term,  to  regard 
epidemics  and  epizootics  as  typhoid  fevers.  Thus  confounding  many  maladies,  M.  Plasse, 
in  vainglorious  terms  which  characterize  his  whole  volume  of  near  500  pages,  says: 
"  J'ai  reconnu  que  les  ficvres  typhoides,  qui,  chez  les  animaux,  sont  semblables  d  celles  de 
I'homme,  dependent  toujours  d'une  seule  et  meme  cause :  des  champignons  microscopiques 
introduits  dans  I'cconorme  animate  par  les  aliments;  et  je  demontrerai  clairement  que 
toutes  les  causes  qui  ont  etc  indiquees  ne  sont  qu  indirectes  et  detcrminantes ;  quelles  sont 
le  resultat  de  I'erreur ;  et  que  la  veritable  cause  est  une  et  invariable."  M.  Plasse  was  by 
no  means  the  first  to  point  to  the  lower  forms  of  vegetable  life  as  causes  of  disease  in  men 
and  animals ;  but  it  would  be  an  unprofitable  task  to  enlarge  on  the  earlier  hints  in  this 
great  field  of  error  and  of  mystery.  Plasse  has  the  credit  of  first  publishing  a  comprehen 
sive  volume  on  the  subject;  and  in  his  succinct  expose  of  the  work  before  us — an  expose 
which  he  read  before  the  Institute  of  France  on  the  9th  of  October,  1848 — he  says  : 

"  I  have  had  to  substitute  the  general  denomination  of  cryptogamy  for  the  various  expressions  applied  to  the 
diseases  called  typhoid,  aud  I  have  recognized  four  states  of  the  cryptogamic  maladies. 

"First  state,  cryptogamio  incubation.  The  toxic  principle  here  may  sojourn  in  the  animal  economy  during  a  greater 
or  less  length  of  time  without  causing  marked  functional  disturbance  ;  the  disease  will  nevertheless  be  recognized  by 
certain  general  symptoms. 

"  Second  state,  cryptogamic  elimination.  This  is  the  discharge  of  the  poisonous  principle  from  the  animal  economy, 
without  apparent  functional  trouble,  whether  by  the  excretions,  the  embryo  in  abortion,  or  the  sucking  animal. 

"  Third  state,  external  cryptogam;/.  The  morbid  principle  is  eliminated  without  apparent  disturbance,  aud  is  fixed 
in  a  more  or  less  apparent  manner  on  the  surface  of  the  skin,  or  in  certain  cavities  which  have  external  openings.  In 
this  category  are  included  glanders,  farcy,  scrofula,  lupus,  canker  of  horses'  feet,  (crapaadiite,)  elephantiasis,  tinea, 
lepra,  &c. 

"Fourth  state,  cryptogamic  fever.  Here  the  toxic  principle  is  precipitated  in  the  incubative  stage,  cither  in  tho 
liquids  or  in  the  solids,  in  the  interior,  and  in  a  manner  whereby  it  determines  a  more  or  less  intense  and  very  various 
reaction,  according  to  the  kind  of  fungus  aud  the  system  which  is  aft'ected ;  thence  tho  different  forms  of  typhoid 
fevers,  such  as  epizootic  aphthie,  grippe,  tho  contagious  typhus  of  cattle,  suette  miliairc,  gangrenous  pleuropneumonia, 
variola,  scarlatina,  &c." 

M.  Plasse  heralded  forth  his  great  discoveries  in  terms  of  no  doubtful  meaning : 
"  G' est  <1  la  medicine  veterinaire  quil  ctait  reserve  d'arriver  d  ces  grandes  decouvertes." 
It  might  be  thought  that  he  had  arrived  at  this  result  after  long  and  painful  researches  on 
cryptogamic  botany,  and  in  demonstrating  the  presence  of  the  lower  forms  of  plants  in 
the  tissues  of  such  animals,  or  in  the  food  which  communicated  disease.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  M.  Plasse's  observations  referred  rather  to  the  character  of  seasons  and  localities 
remarkable  for  the  development  of  cryptogamic  vegetation,  and  supposed  to  induce 
epidemics  and  epizootics.  He  has  recorded  some  observations  on  intestinal  disturbance, 
induced  by  grasses  and  grains  attacked  by  fungi  which  he  does  not  name ;  but,  apart  from 
these  imperfect  records,  his  entire  work  is  based  on  the  crudest  hypotheses. 

It  is  not  my  object  here  to  give  a  history  of  the  cryptogamic  theories  in  relation  to 
the  origin  of  disease,  nor  to  review  the  able  work  of  Charles  Robin  on  the  parasitic  plants 
living  on  man  and  animals,  nor  to  analyze  the  observations  of  Swayne,  Brittain,  Budd, 
Baly,  Bull,  Griffith,  Bennett,  Robertson,  Graves,  Swain,  Salisbury,  Hallier,  Richardson, 

*  Dfeouverte  des  causes  des  Epizootics  et  des  fipiddmies;  Causes  et  distinction  de  deux  genres  de  Charbon,  &c. 
Par  L.  E.  Plasse.  Poitiers,  1849. 


132  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Duvaine,  De  Bary,  and  many  more.  Apart  from  the  views  enunciated  and  slender  facts 
recorded,  it  seems  to  me  essential  to  the  completion  of  the  work  undertaken  to  attempt 
some  means  whereby  it  may  be  shown  whether  the  periodic,  or  Texas,  fever  and  the  lung- 
plague  did  owe  their  origin,  as  alleged  by  the  New  York  commissioners  for  the  first  and 
Hallier  and  Weiss  for  the  second,  to  a  peculiar  cryptogamic  vegetation.  When  in  the 
West  last  summer  I  had  occasion  to  recommend  an  investigation  of  the  causes  of  the 
prevailing  cattle  fever  in  the  South;  and,  on  its  being  resolved  that  I  should  visit  Texas 
for  the  purposes  of  this  inquiry,  I  obtained  the  assent  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture 
to  the  selection  of  Mr.  H.  W.  Ravenel,  of  Aiken,  South  Carolina,  so  well  known  as  an 
enthusiastic  and  reliable  observer  and  collector  in  the  field  of  cryptogamic  botany,  to 
accompany  me. 

At  the  same  time  Dr.  J.  S.  Billings  and  Dr.  E.  Curtis,  whose  attention  has  been 
specially  directed  to  the  cryptogamic  origin  of  disease,  offered  to  cooperate  with  me,  if  I 
would  supply  material  for  satisfactory  experiments  regarding  the  two  diseases  named.  By 
a  favorable  arrangement  between  the  Agricultural  and  Army  Medical  Departments  these 
reports  are  now  enriched  by  observations  of  the  most  reliable  and  interesting  description. 

JOHN  GAMGEE,  M.  D. 
Hon.  HORACE  CAPRON, 

Commissioner  of  Agriculture. 


t'iiM  'orbroimililli    H.»lumor<- 


THE  SPLEEN -INCISED^  IN  SPLENIC  FEVER. 


.  .< 


" 


:E  CONDI1 


OF 


THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 


133 


APPENDIX. 

WEIGHTS  OP  LIVER  AND  SPLEEN. 

The  following  tables  record  the  weight  of  the  liver  and  the  spleen,  healthy  and  dis 
eased,  of  cattle  examined  during  the  investigation  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  report : 

August  26  to  August  30. 


CHEROKEE  SPLEENS. 


21 

21 

2 

2 

21 

21 

2* 

2i 

21 

21 

21 

21 

24 

24 

21 

24 

21 

21 

2 

2 

21 

2 

31 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

2 

2 

2i 

21 

24 

21 

3 

21 

21 

21 

21 

24 

21 

2 

24 

24 

21 

24 

21 

21 

21 

2 

2 

2 

21 

21 

2 

3 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

3 

21 

21 

21 

21 

24 

2* 

21 

21 

24 

2 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

31 

21 

21 

2* 

2i 

21 

2* 

2* 

24 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

2* 

21 

24 

21 

24 

21 

21 

2 

2 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

24 

Tot'il 

3001 



2.36 



TEXAN  SPLEENS. 


34 

3 

21 

3 

31 

21 

21 

4 

31 

3 

21 

31 

3 

2-1 

3 

21 

2 

21 

21 

31 

21 

21 

24 

31 

31 

21 

3 

2 

3 

31 

21 

21 

24 

21 

34 

21 

21 

3 

3 

21 

21 

2 

21 

31 

21 

3 

31 

21 

4 

34 

3 

21 

34 

31 

31 

21 

31 

21 

21 

21 

21 

21 

31 

21 

3 

31 

4 

3 

21 

2 

21 

21 

3 

31 

3 

21 

21 

31 

31 

21 

31 

21 

31 

21 

21 

31 

21 

3 

3 

31 

3 

34 

31 

21 

2 

21 

31 

31 

3i 

21 

3 

3i 

•3 

21 

31 

2 

31 

31 

21 

31 

34 

3i 

21 

21 

21 

3 

3 

3i 

31 

31 

2 

21 

31 

31 

31 

31 

24 

3 

31 

31 

31 

2 

21 

21 

31 

21 

21 

21 

3 

24 

21 

31 

31 

3 

21 

21 

31 

3 

21 

3 

2 

21 

21 

Si 

21 

3 

31 

O 

21 

3 

21 

4 

21 

21 

21 

21 

3 

21 

21 

21 

21 

3i 

2 

31 

24 

3 

21 

21 

2 

21 

31 
Total 

21 

2i 

21 

24 

21 

523 

2.79 

NATIVE  SPLEENS. 


11 

H 

14 

H 

14 

U 

11 

li 

li 

li 

li 

H 

H 

H 

li 

11 

li 

H 

11 

li 

14 

14 

li 

11 

H 

li 

H 

H 

li 

li 

li 

H 

11 

H 

H 

li 

11 

11 

U 

11 

H 

11 

H 

2 

H 

11 

li 

H 

li 

H 

li 

li 

li 

11 

H 

11 

H 

11 

H 

11 

H 

H 

11 

li 

H 

H 

1 

H 

H 

H 

H 

H 

11 

14 

11 

U 

li 

li 

li 

H 

li 

H 

H 

11 

li 

li 

li 

H 

H 

li 

11 

H 

H 

H 

li 

11 

11 

li 

11 

H 

U 

H 

li 

H 

li 

li 

li 

11 

H 

H 

U 

H 

li 

11 

li 

li 

li 

li 

li 

11 

H 

H 

H 

li 

H 

H 

11 
Tot'il 

11 

il 

11 

11 

li 

183J 

1.39 

NOTE.— By  the  term  "  native,"  as  here  applied  to  cattle  or  their  diseased  organs,  is  meant  cattle  not  raised  in  dis 
tricts  in  which  the  infection  originated. 


134 


DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

Native  cattle. 


Date. 

w 

£ 
o 

00 

Livors. 

Date. 

X 

1 

CO 

Livers. 

Date. 

<c 
C 
O 

_o 

"H. 

02 

Livers. 

Date. 

X 

C 

O 

8 

1- 

Livers. 

Sept  8 

1 

10 

Sept.  10 

li 

10 

Sept.  11  

li 

9 

Sept  13 

li 

l(i 

*a 

1 

li 

11 

li 

11 

i 

11 

1 

8 

1 

9 

H 

9 

H 

12 

1 

7 

Sept.  9 

li 

14 

li 

1C 

i 

10 

1 

6 

2 

15 

H 

10 

H 

11 

li 

11 

H 

15 

1* 

11 

ii 

11 

li 

13 

1* 

13 

li 

11 

ii 

11 

li 

12 

H 

13 

li 

11 

ii 

11 

li 

10 

2 

13 

li 

12 

ii 

10 

li 

13 

2 

13 

a 

10 

ii 

9 

li 

7 

2 

12 

1* 

9 

H 

9 

li 

9 

U 

10 

ii 

8 

2 

13 

U 

12 

li 

12 

l* 

12 

2 

1C 

li 

1(1 

2 

13 

i* 

11 

H 

18 

1 

8 

li 

11 

H 

11 

H 

9 

1 

f> 

H 

12 

li 

12 

li 

16 

H 

9 

li 

10 

H 

13 

li 

11 

li 

12 

1 

9 

U 

11 

2 

14 

li 

9 

1 

8 

li 

13 

1 

10 

1 

8 

li 

10 

li 

11 

H 

13 

li 

10 

1 

9 

a 

12 

li 

12 

li 

14 

H 

10 

li 

12 

li 

14 

li 

10 

2 

10 

2 

10 

H 

16 

1 

5 

1 

8 

1 

9 

li 

9 

li 

8 

H 

9 

li 

15 

li 

13 

1 

7 

10 

O 

1  \ 

19 

Sept.  14 

ij 

10 

* 

14 

L& 

*$ 

H 

9 

* 

1 

12 

li 

12 

li 

9 

J 

5 

2 

Ifi 

H 

13 

li 

10 

1 

8 

u 

13 

li 

14 

li 

9 

li 

10 

li 

12 

li 

12 

li 

9 

1 

(> 

2 

13 

2 

1C 

li 

8 

H 

10 

1* 

12 

2 

13 

li 

8 

1 

8 

2 

13 

H 

14 

1 

(i 

2 

14 

li 

12 

li 

14 

H 

11 

1 

9 

o 

14 

H 

13 

li 

10 

li 

9 

1 

9 

1 

10 

li 

12 

2 

8 

U 

9 

li 

12 

li 

1(5 

1 

9 

H 

10 

1 

9 

li 

20 

H 

12 

1 

10 

li 

14 

H 

Ifi 

li 

9 

li 

9 

li 

12 

H 

13 

H 

12 

1 

10 

li 

13 

H 

9 

li 

10 

li 

11 

Sept.  13  

li 

11 

li 

(i 

li 

13 

1 

10 

2 

12 

li 

8 

li 

15 

li 

11 

li 

13  * 

li 

16 

1 

12 

1 

9 

2 

15 

ii 

13 

1 

13 

li 

12 

1 

11 

H 

12 

H 

10 

2i 

12 

li 

12 

ii 

11 

2 

17 

1 

8 

2 

12 

ii 

8 

li 

13 

1 

11 

H 

12 

ii 

y 

li 

13 

1 

10 

2 

15 

H 

10 

Sept.  10  . 

li 

9 

1 

]J 

li 

14 

i* 

10 

1 

8 

Sei»t.  11  

1 

10 

*  2 

2 

13 

*2 
H 

12 

H 

8 

1 

10 

li 

10 

li 

12 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVEE. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


135 


Date. 

£ 
a 

o 

i 

Date. 

i 

i 
> 

Date. 

03 

3 

H 

Date. 

rt 

CJ 

3 

03 

j 

t» 

A 

X 

13 

aa 

h-5 

li 

12 

Sept  15 

u 

14 

Sept.  15  

H 

13 

Sept.  15  

H 

10 

1 

li 

12 

li 

13 

H 

14 

11 

13 

li 

12 

1 

9 

U 

13 

24 

19 

1 

9 

1 

11 

H 

9 

14 

12 

1 

10 

H 

12 

1 

11 

2 

11 

li 

12 

li 

13 

H 

13 

Sept  15 

1" 

li 

li 

14 

2 

10 

Total  

373| 

2,928 

H 

16 

la 

li 

10 

li 

15 

H 

14 

Average  

1.  40 

11.39 

li 

14 

H 

12 

2 

16 

H 

15 

H 

13 

H 

11 

H 

12 

li 

14 

li 

13 

•^PTvf   H 

2 

16 

Sept  '> 

li 

11 

Sept.  9  

li 

9 

Sept.  10  

li 

14 

H 

12 

•*•  2 

2 

12 

li 

9 

1 

8 

i 

15 

li 

12 

H 

11 

li 

15 

2 

11 

li 

13 

H 

13 

li 

11 

2 

14 

li 

15 

li 

13 

li 

13 

H 

12 

2 

12 

li 

13 

li 

10 

2 

16 

li 

13 

H 

14 

li 

12 

14 

12 

H 

14 

H 

12 

li 

14 

2 

13 

li 

13 

li 

14 

H 

12 

1 

10 

If 

16 

li 

111 

14 

13 

1 

9 

li 

12 

H 

15 

li 

15 

li 

14 

2 

20 

li 

10 

1 

!) 

1 

11 

1 

13 

li 

12 

li 

12 

H 

16 

1 

12 

H 

10 

li 

13 

1 

9 

1 

16 

li 

8 

li 

8 

li 

16 

2 

19 

li 

12 

H 

10 

H 

12 

1 

13 

1 

11 

H 

12 

24 

10 

li 

13 

1 

11 

1 

7 

li 

11 

1 

14 

34 

9 

2 

10 

2 

15 

li 

16 

1 

10 

H 

13 

2 

16 

H 

14 

2 

14 

H 

7 

2 

20 

li 

9 

H 

11 

li 

8 

14 

14 

li 

12 

1 

8 

li 

9 

2 

13 

li 

10 

H 

11 

li 

11 

li 

12 

li 

10 

Sept.  10  

14 

13 

li 

10 

2 

15 

li 

7 

i 

8 

H 

13 

li 

16 

1 

7 

li 

10 

2 

16 

2 

13 

li 

9 

3 

11 

1 

8 

24 

12 

H 

10 

H 

9 

1 

8 

84 

15 

li 

12 

1 

8 

H 

11 

2 

16 

H 

10 

li 

16 

li 

10 

Sept  0    

1J 

13 

2 

10 

14 

12 

li 

10 

li 

11 

li 

10 

li 

12 

li 

11 

It 

14 

2i 

14 

li 

12 

li 

10 

136 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


Date. 

m 

a 

o 
Si 

Livers. 

Date. 

02 
c 
ffi 

off 

Livers. 

Date. 

§ 

"3. 

02 

i 

3 

Date. 

Spleens. 

Livers. 

Sept.  10  

li 

9 

Sept.  11  

1 

12 

Sept.  11 

li 

13 

Sept.  13 

14 

19 

li 

13 

H 

13 

H 

13 

1 

A* 
11 

1 

8 

H 

15 

1 

10 

1 

12 

li 

14 

li 

13 

U 

12 

2 

14 

1 

8 

.li 

14 

H 

13 

li 

10 

li 

12 

If 

14 

H 

14 

14 

10 

li 

12 

li 

15 

H 

14 

1 

8 

li 

11 

H 

13 

1-i 

16 

li 

9 

li 

11 

1 

10 

U 

12 

1 

8 

li 

11 

H 

14 

n 

10 

li 

12 

\\ 

14 

H 

12 

Sept.  13  

i 

11 

1 

6 

2 

10 

10 

13 

1 

6 

H 

16 

H 

16 

2 

16 

li 

15 

H 

7 

1 

7 

1* 

12 

1 

8 

1 

10 

1 

6 

li 

14 

H 

10 

2 

16 

H 

15 

If 

12 

li 

9 

2 

10 

li 

16 

2 

15 

Sept.  14 

14 

9 

1 

11 

li 

14 

1 

16 

1 

6 

o 

16 

H 

13 

U 

16 

1 

5 

li 

16 

U 

14 

1 

12 

li 

8 

3 

13 

li 

12 

H 

15 

li 

9 

1 

11 

1 

9 

1 

12 

1 

6 

1 

8 

li 

15 

1 

15 

li 

11 

H 

16 

1 

8 

1 

10 

li 

10 

2 

16 

li 

16 

1 

12 

li 

8 

2i 

16 

H 

16 

1 

10 

li 

9 

li 

16 

li 

14 

H 

12 

H 

10 

2 

14 

li 

10 

2 

15 

1 

4f 

li 

14 

li 

15 

1* 

16 

1 

6 

H 

15 

14 

12 

2 

13 

li 

10 

1 

12 

1J 

15 

li 

13 

2 

16 

1 

14 

H 

12 

1 

11 

2 

21 

1 

12 

li 

14 

H 

12 

14 

18 

li 

13 

1 

9 

1 

12 

14 

22 

li 

14 

1 

11 

H 

12 

li 

10 

Sept.  11  ... 

1 

9 

H 

12 

l 

12 

14 

9 

li 

11 

H 

14 

1 

12 

H 

9 

U 

12 

2 

16 

1 

12 

li 

8 

li 

13 

li 

14 

1 

10 

li 

9 

li 

12 

H 

13 

t 

12 

14 

10 

H 

15 

1 

10 

1 

10 

14 

9 

U 

16 

2 

11 

1 

12 

li 

10 

li 

12 

H 

13 

1 

9 

li 

17 

1 

13 

li 

14 

1 

12 

li 

16 

li 

12 

2 

16 

li 

12 

14 

12 

H 

13 

li 

12 

1J 

13 

14 

8 

li 

15 

li 

13 

1 

13 

li 

10 

li 

15 

H 

10 

H 

10 

14 

12 

li 

14 

li 

11 

li 

12 

li 

10 

1 

17 

1 

13 

H 

11 

li 

12 

H 

14 

li 

9 

li 

10 

1 

6 

li 

15 

li 

11 

1 

11 

l 

5 

1 

11 

H 

11 

2 

11 

14 

9 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


187 


oc 

2 

X 

t» 

Date. 

s 

* 

Date. 

S 
^ 

e 

o 

Date. 

£ 

& 

2 

O 
!•* 

Date. 

3 

o 

00 

b 

p 

M 

J 

X 

3 

5* 

'3 

az 

'3 

Sout  14 

H 

12 

Sept  14 

11 

9 

Sept.  15  

li 

14 

Sept  15 

2 

13 

^f 
1* 

18 

••-4 

li 

8 

H 

14 

21 

13 

H 

14 

1* 

9 

li 

12 

1 

9 

H 

16 

H 

10 

1 

Hi 

li 

11 

U 

14 

H 

11 

11 

14 

2 

12 

H 

10 

1* 

13 

H 

14 

1 

11 

14 

12 

li 

14 

2 

16 

1 

11 

li 

10 

li 

15 

li 

14 

H 

13 

U 

8 

H 

16 

11 

13 

li 

H 

11 

10 

1* 

17 

H 

14 

11 

12 

H 

10 

Sept.  15  

H 

14 

11 

12 

11 

12 

11 

10 

H 

12 

li 

10 

if 

13 

1* 

.  10 

H 

12 

li 

10 

1 

11 

If 

15 

11 

12 

l 

10 

li 

11 

li 

14 

H 

12 

i 

10 

i 

13 

1 

5 

li 

11 

11 

11 

is 

12 

i 

4 

11 

14 

H 

13 

i 

10 

H 

13 

1 

12 

11 

13 

li 

12 

if 

15 

1 

9 

2 

14 

i 

8 

if 

10 

H 

11 

1 

13 

i 

10 

H 

8 

li 

12 

IS 

13 

i 

11 

li 

9 

11 

8 

li 

13 

i 

9 

H 

10 

li 

14 

li 

12 

i 

11 

H 

9 

1* 

10 

li 

13 

i 

10 

H 

8 

1 

12 

1 

12 

H 

11 

H 

10 

2 

15 

li 

13 

U 

15 

2 

19 

1 

12 

li 

13 

li 

13 

11 

17 

1 

12 

11 

12 

U 

14 

1* 

18 

1 

12 

1 

10 

2 

15 

1* 

11 

li 

12 

1 

11 

U 

15 

1* 

12 

1 

12 

1 

10 

1 

11 

H 

14 

li 

12 

11 

10 

11 

12 

li 

(i 

li 

11 

11 

11 

li 

Ifi 

H 

9 

1 

12 

11 

11 

2 

10 

if 

10 

1 

12 

1 

12 

U 

11 

li 

Hi 

1 

11 

11 

9 

2 

12 

i* 

9 

1 

11 

11 

14 

H 

11 

ii 

8 

H 

12 

2 

15 

2 

12 

'H 

12 

1 

9 

H 

11 

2i 

13 

H 

10 

2 

11 

1 

12 

2 

12 

H 

9 

H 

13 

1 

12 

11 

14 

li 

8 

1 

12 

H 

15 

2 

12 

1 

5 

li 

10 

1 

11 

21 

13 

1 

6 

li 

12 

li 

11 

U 

11 

li 

9 

1 

10 

H 

12 

2 

12 

H 

12 

li 

12 

H 

12 

2 

11 

H 

14 

1 

13 

2i 

13 

li 

12 

i 

5 

2 

15 

1 

11 

1 

10 

i 

C 

2 

12 

11 

10 

H 

12 

li 

12 

li 

13 

11 

12 

2 

10 

H 

20 

H 

12 

U 

11 

H 

11 

it 

21 

H 

13 

11 

10 

li 

11 

U 

10 

li' 

14 

li 

11 

2 

10 

18 


138 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


Date. 

X 

a 

o 
£ 

OD 

Livers. 

Date. 

X 

OB 

Livers. 

Date. 

n 

1 
"E. 
tt 

Livers. 

Date. 

» 

$ 

o 

ao 

Livers. 

Sept.  15 

H 

11 

Sept.  16 

1J 

12 

Sept.  18  

1 

12 

Sept.  18 

1 

11 

2 

10 

14 

13 

1 

10 

1 

11 

li 

8 

li 

14 

H 

9 

li 

12 

1 

14 

1 

13 

li 

12 

1 

13 

li 

10 

1 

15 

li 

10 

1 

14 

li 

8 

11 

13 

ii 

14 

li 

13 

2 

12 

li 

13 

1 

15 

1 

12 

li 

13 

1 

10 

U 

14 

1 

13 

1 

10 

1 

13 

li 

15 

1 

12 

li 

9 

H 

14 

2 

17 

H 

11 

2 

11 

1 

13 

1 

Hi 

2 

15 

2 

12 

li 

12 

li 

14 

1 

16 

li 

13 

li 

13 

li 

13 

li 

14 

li 

ir> 

li 

11 

1 

12 

1 

13 

2 

13 

1 

K! 

1 

11 

1 

12 

li 

ir> 

li 

12 

li 

13 

1 

15 

2 

10 

1 

12 

1 

15 

1 

17 

2 

10 

1 

13 

1 

10 

1 

16 

2i 

12 

li 

14 

1 

11 

li 

13 

1 

10 

1 

11 

li 

13 

li 

14 

li 

1-2 

1 

10 

H 

12 

1 

12 

2 

10 

i 

14 

i 

14 

li 

14 

1 

12 

3 

15 

i 

14 

1 

15 

li 

11 

2 

13 

H 

13 

li 

14 

Sept.  16 

li 

14 

li 

12 

i 

12 

U 

15 

2 

1(1 

li 

14 

i 

13 

A  2 

2 

16 

. 

li 

17 

1 

15 

l 

12 

2 

17 

li 

10 

Sept.  Iff 

H 

13 

i 

13 

H 

13 

li 

15 

- 

li 

16 

2 

15 

*  2 

2 

11 

li 

15 

li 

14 

* 

1 

17 

1 

15 

li 

17 

li 

11 

H 

15 

1 

10 

li 

17 

2 

17 

i 

14 

1 

9 

li 

1-2 

li 

16 

i 

12 

li 

13 

li 

13 

2 

12 

H 

13 

1 

11 

li 

13 

2 

13 

1 

14 

1 

11 

1 

14 

li 

15 

i 

15 

li 

12 

li 

14 

2 

12 

H 

14 

1 

13 

1 

13 

1 

10 

i 

15 

1 

14 

li 

14 

li 

12 

li 

14 

li 

13 

li 

13 

li 

13 

H 

15 

1 

12 

li 

14 

2 

14 

2 

17 

2 

17 

li 

14 

'2 

11 

1 

Iti 

2 

14 

li 

15 

li 

13 

H 

14 

li 

14 

H 

15 

H 

15 

li 

13 

li 

14 

li 

17 

2 

10 

1 

12 

1 

13 

1 

14 

1J 

11 

1 

11 

1 

13 

1 

14 

li 

10 

li 

13 

H 

11 

1 

13 

li 

11 

li 

14 

2 

15 

H 

13 

U 

12 

1 

15 

1 

16 

2 

15 

H 

13 

1 

10 

li 

14 

H 

12 

H 

9 

li 

11 

1 

13 

1 

13 

li 

10 

li 

13 

1 

12 

li 

ir> 

li 

10 

1 

14 

li 

14 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


139 


Date. 

SJ 

g 

Date. 

p 

g 
<o 

Date. 

p 

i 

Date. 

i 

2 
9 

GO 

a 

"E, 

02 

3 

£ 

a 

a? 

'3 

Sept  18 

2 

17 

Sept.  18  and  20 

li 

13 

Sept.  18  and  20 

1 

14 

Sept.  24  

1 

13 

H 

15 

*  2 

2 

10 

H 

16 

li 

15 

H 

17 

2i 

12 

1 

12 

1 

16 

H 

14 

li 

9 

H 

10 

H 

15 

H 

13 

1 

11 

li 

11 

H 

15 

2 

17 

1 

8 

1 

13 

1 

14 

H 

14 

H 

11 

li 

8 

li 

12 

1 

15 

2 

12 

li 

10 

li 

14 

2 

13 

li 

11 

li 

12 

1 

15 

H 

11 

2 

9 

li 

14 

li 

15 

H 

14 

li 

10 

li- 

16 

li 

12 

H 

15 

H 

12 

n 

10 

H 

10 

1 

11 

li 

13 

li 

13 

l 

9 

Sept.  18  ami  20. 

2 

13 

li 

12 

li 

12 

li 

8 

U 

15 

1 

11 

1 

13 

H 

12 

li 

9 

H 

10 

li 

15 

1 

14 

1-j. 

8 

2 

9 

li 

14 

1 

16 

li 

8 

li 

12 

li 

10 

li 

11 

1 

9 

1 

14 

li 

12 

l 

9 

li 

10 

li 

11 

1 

8 

li 

10 

1 

9 

1 

10 

li 

12 

li 

12 

2 

13 

H 

8 

li 

10 

1 

10 

H 

12 

2 

9 

14 

12 

li 

12 

li 

14 

H 

10 

li 

12 

li 

10 

H 

13 

H 

13 

li 

10 

li 

13 

li 

12 

H 

12 

li 

9 

14 

13 

1 

10 

H 

10 

li 

13 

1 

12 

li 

12 

li 

12 

li 

12 

li 

12 

H 

10 

2 

14 

li 

14 

li 

13 

14 

12 

li 

10 

H 

16 

1 

10 

H 

11 

li 

16 

li 

15 

li 

12 

2 

9 

li 

11 

H 

13 

14 

13 

li 

11 

H 

12 

l 

10 

li 

9 

2 

12 

1 

10 

li 

12 

li 

10 

li 

13 

li 

11 

H 

9 

1 

9 

1 

12 

1 

9 

Li 

13 

H 

14 

14 

13 

2 

12 

i 

10 

li 

12 

U 

12 

H 

13 

li 

11 

H 

13 

2 

10 

1 

8 

i 

10 

H 

14 

li 

11 

li 

10 

14 

8 

1 

14 

H 

13 

li 

12 

1 

9 

li 

10 

1 

12 

2 

14 

H 

10 

li 

10 

li 

10 

H 

13 

li 

13 

li 

14 

1 

10 

10 

li 

15 

li 

9 

li 

12 

• 

H 

12 

H 

1C. 

1 

8 

2 

9 

li 

14 

9 

21 

14 

11 

10 

j. 

10 

Sept  24  

li 

16 

2 

12 

1 

12 

1 

11 

1 

15 

H 

13 

li 

13 

li 

12 

li 

1C. 

li 

10 

H 

11 

2 

13 

li 

17 

li 

12 

14 

12 

H 

1C) 

1 

16 

H 

11 

1 

10 

H 

15 

li 

15 

i   H 

10 

140 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGIIICULTUKE. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


Date. 

a: 
DB 

Livers. 

Date. 

"3. 
02 

E 

1 

Date. 

o3 
B 

"ft 

O2 

Livers. 

Date. 

o5 

1 

off 

cc 
^ 

Sept.  24  

li 

12 

Sept.  24  ... 

li 

15 

Sept.  24 

14 

Sept.  24  . 

li 

12 

1 
li 
H 

li 
1 

11 
16 

.  10 
15 
10 
12 

li 
li 
1 

1 

15 

11 
14 
16 

11 
15 

1 

2 

H 

16 
15 
14 
15 
16 
14 

1 

li 
li 

1 

10 

13 

14 
14 
15 
10 
12 

H 

14 

10 

1 

10 
12 

1 

li 

15 

Total  

l,4(iU 

12,  402f 

Average  . 

1.441 

12.  ^31 

MALE    AND    KKMALK. 


August  20 

1 

12 

August  20  .. 

1 

9 

August  20  

1 

9 

Sept  2 

2 

20 

li 

14 

O 

li 

12 

li 

11 

li 

14 

2 

9i 

1 

14 

1 

Pi 

1 

13 

H 

13 

2 

15 

1 

14 

H 

12 

1 

15 

2 

17 

1 

12 

li 

14 

li 

16 

1 

14 

li 

14 

li 

13 

2 

9i 

1 

13 

li 

12 

1 

14 

2 

14 

li 

14 

li 

9 

2 

20 

2i 

13 

1 

15 

li 

12 

li 

14 

1* 

12 

1 

1G 

1 

14 

2 

20 

1 

12 

li 

16 

1 

12 

li 

14 

1 

13 

1 

14 

li 

9 

1 

13 

li 

13 

li 

15 

1 

12 

li 

12 

1 

12 

1 

12 

li 

13 

li 

14 

li 

14 

1 

13 

2 

14 

li 

13 

2 

12 

1 

14i 

2 

16 

1 

13 

2 

13 

li 

9 

2 

18 

li 

14 

2 

15 

li 

12 

li 

9i 

li 

12 

IS 

18 

2 

14 

1 

14 

1 

Ifi 

li 

16 

2 

15 

li 

15 

li 

13 

1 

12 

li 

If) 

1 

12 

li 

14 

1 

9i 

2 

17 

li 

16 

1 

14 

li 

14 

H 

16 

1 

12 

li 

14 

1 

12 

li. 

12 

li 

15 

1 

13 

1 

8i 

1* 

10 

1 

14 

li 

15 

li 

12 

li- 

12 

1 

15 

li 

18 

1 

12 

1 

If. 

1 

12 

li 

14 

1.1 

14 

2 

18 

1 

9 

, 

H 

17 

1 

15 

H 

16 

li 

8 

li 

13 

1 

If. 

li 

12 

;, 

12 

li 

18 

1 

12 

1 

12 

'  i 

8i 

li 

If. 

2 

0 

2 

10 

* 

8 

li 

14 

2 

10 

1 

12 

1 

9 

li 

14 

li 

14 

li 

13 

H 

!>i 

2 

19 

1 

15 

1 

14 

1 

12 

li 

18 

li 

13 

1 

15 

1 

12 

1 

13 

1 

14 

15 

16 

Sept.  2 

1 

If. 

li 

14 

1 

12  ; 

I 

1 

12 

li 

18 

1* 

14 

2 

13 

H 

11 

ii 

14 

li 

14 

THE  SPLEXIO  FEVER, 

Native  cattle — Continued. 

MALE   AND   FEMALK. 


141 


Date. 

« 

8 
35 

1- 

Livers. 

Date. 

X 

a 

V 

& 
"ft 

02 

Livers. 

Date. 

Spleens. 

Livers. 

Date. 

33 

£ 
v 

O2 

Livers. 

Sept  2 

11 

12 

Sept.  2 

li 

10 

Sept.  3  

24 

12 

Sept.  6  

1 

15 

1  • 

ii 

14 

-"-4 

1 

94 

li 

10 

H 

18 

ii 

14 

1 

9 

H 

8 

li 

1C 

2 

16 

1 

84 

H 

8 

11 

15 

li 

15 

li 

9 

H 

7 

li 

14 

li 

14 

li 

84 

1 

10 

li 

17 

*  H 

14 

1 

8 

14 

3 

li 

14 

li 

15 

1 

84 

li 

9 

H 

15 

li 

14 

li 

9 

li 

12 

li 

14 

H 

15 

li 

8i 

2 

10 

li 

15 

li 

13 

li 

8 

24 

9 

H 

18 

H 

15 

i 

8 

li 

9 

li 

17 

li 

16 

li 

94 

H 

104 

li 

17 

1 

114 

1 

10 

o 

11 

2 

Hi 

2 

9* 

li 

10 

2 

12 

li 

lOf 

li 

114 

1 

11 

24 

12 

2 

13 

H 

11 

1 

11 

li 

12 

li 

14 

li 

12 

H 

11 

li 

12 

14 

10 

li 

12 

1 

10 

1 

11 

2* 

94 

H 

11 

H 

12 

2 

12 

li 

10 

14 

12 

2 

94 

24 

10 

14. 

Hi 

li 

10 

2 

12 

21 

9 

li 

Hi 

14 

11 

H 

10 

2 

8 

1 

13i 

2 

12 

1 

104 

2 

10 

2J 

iii 

2 

13 

li 

11 

24 

11 

2 

134 

2 

10 

2 

11 

li 

12 

H 

13 

li 

9 

2 

12| 

2 

9 

1 

10 

H 

94 

2 

9 

2 

10 

H 

11 

1 

9 

2 

10 

24 

9 

2 

9 

1 

94 

H 

11 

2 

10 

2 

94 

2 

12 

li 

11 

2 

11 

li 

iii 

2 

10 

14 

12 

2 

12 

li 

11 

2 

11 

H 

12 

2 

11 

li 

13 

4)1 

12 

Sept.  3  

2 

10 

Sept  4 

14 

li 

9| 

*2 

1 

9 

4 

9 

14 

12 

2 

1<H 

H 

12 

24 

13 

H 

14 

y 

94 

1 

10 

24 

16 

H 

14 

li 

11! 

1 

13 

21 

10 

H 

12 

li 

134 

i 

94 

2 

10 

li 

10 

li 

10 

1 

11 

2 

11 

14 

14 

1 

124 

1 

12 

24 

13 

14 

14 

1 

9i 

li 

10 

24 

15 

H 

16 

li 

11 

li 

11 

24 

15 

li 

14 

li 

10 

2 

10| 

2 

10 

H 

14 

U 

124 

2 

11 

li 

11 

14 

12 

1* 

iii 

2 

12 

If 

13 

2 

14 

li 

11 

1 

11 

2 

12 

li 

13 

2 

15J 

1 

12 

2 

12 

3 

18 

H 

11 

H 

10 

2i 

13 

H 

14 

2 

13 

1 

Hi 

24 

14 

li 

12 

H 

13 

li 

12 

3 

14 

li 

14 

U 

Hi 

14. 

13 

3 

13 

1  Sept.  6 

1 

It! 

U 

11 

L* 

1 

11 

21 

14 

H 

14 

2 

11.1 

142 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


Native  cattle — Continued. 


MALE    AND    FEMALE. 


of 

X 

A 

X 

Date. 

| 

| 

Date. 

| 

e 

Date. 

3 

V 

i 

Date. 

1 

X 

t/T 

3 

& 

2 

iff 

2 

<ff 

3 

Sept.  0  

o 

12 

Sept.  7  

li 

11 

Sept.  7  

1 

12 

Sept  10 

la. 

14 

li 

94 

2 

13 

li 

10 

*•* 

1 

li 

9i 

2i 

13 

li 

14 

14 

11 

li 

'Ji 

2 

11 

li 

15 

li 

104 

li 

9 

li 

12 

li 

18 

li 

9 

H 

94 

1 

11 

1 

13 

li 

14 

1 

9 

li 

12 

li 

14 

• 

1 

10 

2 

10 

1 

11 

H 

15  ' 

li 

12 

li 

12 

H 

10 

14 

18 

1 

10 

Sept.  7  ... 

1 

11 

1 

10 

li 

14 

o 

12 

H 

10 

1 

12 

li 

14 

2i 

11 

1 

12 

li 

13 

li 

17 

2 

12 

1 

13 

1 

10 

li 

15 

li 

14 

10 

li 

12 

li 

14 

1 

10 

104 

1 

'Ji 

2 

18 

li 

15 

li 

114 

li 

12 

H 

17 

11 

15 

2 

8 

li 

13 

li 

15 

1 

11 

2i 

84 

li 

11 

H 

17 

2 

9 

If 

124 

2 

10 

1 

10 

H 

13 

li 

12 

li 

11 

li 

14 

li 

H4 

H 

10 

2| 

12 

li 

18 

li 

12 

li 

9 

H 

15 

li 

15 

li 

15 

If 

114 

3 

13 

i 

14 

H 

15 

li 

11 

2 

10 

li 

10i 

li 

14i 

14- 

114 

3 

15 

Sept.  9 

1 

1  1 

1 

1  •) 

ii 

12 

14 

13 

2 

12 

1 

10 

i 

12 

24 

14 

li 

13 

li 

94 

H 

114 

14 

10 

H 

15 

14 

13 

u 

11 

li 

13 

1 

144 

li 

13 

H 

12 

2 

10 

2 

124 

1 

13 

H 

13 

24 

10 

1 

13 

1 

9 

li 

10 

2| 

11 

li 

94 

2 

94 

2 

11 

1 

24 

12 

li 

15 

li 

154 

2 

10 

H 

11 

li 

11 

li 

11 

H 

12 

2 

13 

li 

13 

li 

12 

li 

10 

2 

15 

H 

14 

li 

13 

1 

11 

3 

10 

li 

lOf 

li 

94 

li 

12 

li 

10 

li 

15 

1 

15 

H 

114 

li 

13 

H 

12 

1 

8 

1 

12 

14 

1C 

14 

15 

li 

13 

H 

13 

<, 

H 

13 

2 

144 

li 

12 

li 

94 

14 

12 

2 

15 

li 

12 

H 

12 

H 

13 

li 

104 

2 

15 

li 

104 

2 

10 

1 

12 

2 

104 

2 

94 

2 

11 

H 

13 

li 

H4 

14 

l()i 

2 

13 

1 

154 

li 

12 

14 

11 

3 

15 

li 

10 

1 

14 

i 

12 

24 

8 

li 

12 

li 

13 

H 

10 

1 

16 

li 

114 

2 

184 

i 

94 

H 

15 

H 

144 

1 

12 

14 

10 

2 

20 

1-j. 

10 

1 

13 

i 

124 

14 

18 

Sept.  10  

li 

12 

li 

14 

H 

13 

li 

14 

1* 

13 

2 

111 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 

MALE   AND    J'KMALK. 


143 


X 

& 

X 

X 

Date. 

0 

ffi 
£ 

* 

Date. 

a 
« 

£ 

g 

> 

Date. 

g 

V 

4> 

E 

P 

Date. 

O 

V 

CC 
H 

V 

02 

3 

a? 

3 

"E. 

CC 

3 

oT 

3 

Sept  10 

a 

15  | 

Sept  11 

li 

13 

Sept.  14  

li 

13 

Sept.  14  

1 

12 

11 

10 

li 

1C 

2 

91 

14 

15 

H 

14 

1 

9 

2 

l(i 

H 

12 

i* 

13 

i 

10 

1 

15 

1 

14 

li 

1(4 

H 

13 

li 

12 

2 

'Ji 

14 

11 

2 

91 

li 

10 

2 

14 

'  H 

12 

2 

12 

li 

Si 

21 

15 

2 

13 

2 

11 

li 

16 

1 

12 

24- 

13* 

H 

13 

li 

14 

li 

13 

if 

15 

li 

14 

li 

8 

2 

15 

H 

9 

9* 

15 

1 

9 

21 

16 

2 

Si 

H 

13 

1 

8 

1 

91 

11 

11 

H 

14. 

4 

Si 

li 

91 

H 

12 

1 

15 

2 

19 

1 

9 

11 

13 

H 

11 

1 

12 

H 

12 

11 

11 

li 

10 

.1 

13 

li 

15 

2 

14 

1 

10i 

1 

15 

li 

16 

li 

15 

2 

12 

H 

1(1 

2 

15 

li 

14 

1 

13 

li 

91 

1 

14 

li 

101 

1 

14 

H 

14 

H 

15 

_ 

2 

15 

li 

12 

2 

10 

1 

10 

li 

13 

li 

14 

2 

15 

li 

14 

li 

111 

H 

111 

21 

15 

2 

91 

li 

13 

2 

13 

H 

12 

2 

10 

li 

12 

li 

14 

11 

14 

li 

15 

U 

13 

11 

15 

li 

91 

2 

13 

Sept  11 

i 

10 

li 

12 

H 

9 

21 

14 

li 

13 

2 

10 

2 

1(3 

li 

10 

J 

8 

1 

11 

1 

12 

1 

14 

1 

14 

H 

12 

li 

13 

li 

13 

1 

9 

li 

13 

2 

14 

2 

14 

li 

13 

1 

11 

21 

13 

2 

14 

li 

12 

H 

11 

2 

14 

1 

12 

1 

13 

li 

12 

li 

15 

li 

13 

2 

9 

li 

12 

li 

15 

2 

14 

1 

11 

li 

11 

li 

14 

li 

15 

li 

13 

li 

11 

li 

12 

li 

10 

1 

14 

it 

13 

1 

10 

li 

12 

1 

14 

1 

Si 

li 

14 

.. 

9i 

H 

15 

1 

13 

1 

12 

li 

14 

H 

10 

2 

14 

1 

13 

li 

12 

2 

Ifi 

1 

12 

li 

91 

H 

14 

1 

14 

1 

14 

U 

10} 

li 

10 

1 

15 

1 

l«i 

2 

12 

1 

15 

li 

13 

2 

12 

21 

13 

H 

10 

li 

16 

1 

16 

2 

12 

1 

14 

1 

9 

li 

13 

H 

15 

li 

13 

f 

10 

li 

14 

li 

10  . 

li 

14 

li 

13 

1 

12 

1 

17 

2 

12 

li 

14 

Sept.  14  

1 

12 

1 

14 

21 

13 

1 

12 

li 

14 

1 

9 

21 

10 

1 

14 

1 

15 

H 

14 

li 

10 

1 

15 

li 

1(1 

1 

16 

H 

11 

144 


DEPAETMENT  OF  AGKICULTUEE. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


MALE    AXI)    I-'KMALE. 


Date. 

CD 

a 

V 

"Hi 

Livers. 

Date. 

« 
"H, 

V. 

V 

Date. 

1 

i 

*-i 

Date. 

a 

1 

o 

"E, 

cc 

Livers. 

Sept  14 

14- 

10 

Sept  14 

j 

8 

Sept.  15 

2 

12 

Sept.  15  

I 

81 

JI 

2 

12 

1 

12 

1 

14 

2 

"  3 

14 

2 

14 

li 

14 

1 

15 

H 

10 

H 

15 

1 

15 

2 

10 

1 

13 

1 

12 

3 

9 

2 

114 

li 

12 

2 

10 

3 

94 

H 

14 

1 

10 

1 

14 

4 

10 

H 

15 

1 

94 

H 

12 

3 

11 

1 

13 

2 

11 

14 

10 

34 

10 

1 

15 

24 

13 

1 

9 

1 

12 

H 

16 

1 

14 

4 

8 

li 

14 

2 

12 

14 

12 

4 

8 

2 

10 

1 

11 

i 

11 

i 

12 

2i 

14 

1 

94 

H 

14 

14 

15 

li 

15 

1 

14 

i 

12 

2 

94 

li 

14 

1 

13 

2 

11 

1 

14 

. 

1 

14 

li 

14 

14 

9 

H 

15 

li 

15 

li 

10 

4 

8 

1 

12 

li 

13 

4 

9 

4 

8 

Ji 

Hi 

1 

94 

3 

10 

2 

9 

4 

8 

2 

12 

1 

14 

24 

12 

1 

11 

li 

14 

1 

12 

1 

114 

H 

10 

li 

15 

H 

14 

li 

9 

li 

14 

1 

10 

1 

17 

2 

94 

2 

9 

4 

84 

1 

11 

U 

15 

Ol 

Ol 

1 

..  . 

i  n 

Sept.  10 

i 

1 

11 

1 

1 

14 

li 

J.U 

9 

i 

1 

7 

14 

12 

1 

12 

2 

11 

li 

8 

1J 

14 

1 

14 

li 

9 

li 

84 

li 

15 

2 

12 

2J 

13 

4 

8 

2 

94 

li 

14 

1 

12 

1 

94 

2 

16 

li 

94 

1 

9 

1 

7 

H 

12 

1 

12 

24 

13 

li 

"i 

H 

15 

li 

12 

2 

14 

1 

14 

li 

14 

2 

94 

1 

15 

14 

15 

li 

144 

1 

114 

1 

12 

14 

Mi 

li 

Hi 

2 

12 

li 

10 

li 

11 

2 

10 

2 

14 

1 

114 

li 

84 

H 

94 

1 

14 

1 

14 

li 

9 

1 

12 

li 

14 

1 

17 

li 

11 

1 

14 

1 

15 

It 

16 

1 

13 

li 

15 

li 

13 

:i 

8i 

H 

16 

li 

10 

2 

14 

4 

12 

2 

14 

1 

12 

1 

14 

4 

10 

1 

11 

li 

10 

1 

15 

14 

14 

2 

11 

H 

12 

2 

13 

li 

14 

li 

11 

1 

11 

2 

14 

1 

15 

1 

13 

j  i 

9 

Sept.  15 

-. 

14 

2 

14 

2 

12 

H 

10 

li 

15 

1 

11 

1 

13 

li 

9 

U 

16 

1 

12 

1 

17 

2 

12 

1 

17 

1 

13 

li 

16 

li 

14 

1 

94 

li 

14 

2 

14 

1 

13 

li 

14 

1 

11 

li 

17 

1 

12 

2 

'Ji 

1 

a  ; 

1 

94 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

JStative  cattle — Continued. 

MALE    AND    FEMALE. 


145 


Date. 

DD 

as 

£ 

"Si 

X 

Livers. 

Date. 

0! 

a 

o 

CJ 

•Jl 

Livers. 

Date. 

y' 

Zj 

u 
00 

BO 

h^ 

Date. 

& 

oT 

Livers. 

Sept  16 

li 

9 

Sept.  17  

1 

9 

Sept.  17  ... 

1 

10 

.Sept.  18  

iy 

14 

-"•^ 

H 

10 

1 

£4 

2 

12 

24 

16 

2 

16J 

1 

8 

li 

14 

li 

13i 

1 

18 

H 

9 

1 

12 

2 

14 

1J 

14 

li 

10 

Sept.  18  .. 

1 

14 

1 

14 

'•t 

H 

in 

1 

7 

H 

15 

H 

10 

if 

1C 

li 

84 

1 

84 

1 

15 

i 

13 

1 

8 

li 

13 

li 

16 

o 

16 

li 

9 

li 

114 

1 

13 

1 

14 

li 

8 

2 

9 

ii 

12 

ii 

15 

li 

12 

1 

12 

i 

16 

1 

124 

li 

12 

2 

13 

14 

14 

If 

15 

2 

14 

2 

15 

1A 

'  ?i 

^ 

10 

li 

13 

x 

12 

Sept.  23  .  . 

i 

14 

1 

12 

1 

9 

1 

9 

li 

15 

1  . 

13 

1 

12 

li 

14 

i 

12 

1 

14 

1 

15 

H 

12 

2 

16 

1 

9 

H 

14 

li 

12 

14 

15 

14 

8 

2 

i:;  ' 

H 

14 

1 

12 

1 

74 

li 

13} 

2 

13 

14 

15 

2 

15 

1 

12 

H 

134, 

2 

13 

li 

13 

14 

13 

1 

9 

H 

15 

U 

11 

H 

15 

1 

11 

1 

14 

1 

12 

1 

16 

2 

14 

14 

16 

1 

13 

li 

12 

li 

15 

1 

10 

H 

11 

2 

14 

It 

16 

li 

9 

1 

13 

14 

16 

1 

13 

1 

13 

2 

14 

1 

12 

o 

11 

li 

12 

H 

9 

2 

12 

H 

11 

li 

14 

Sept.  17  

2 

15 

1 

84 

1 

13 

1 

13 

C2 

2f 

14 

H 

13 

1 

15 

14 

15 

1 

14 

14 

14 

H 

134 

2 

12 

2 

14 

2 

12 

H 

16 

2 

94 

2 

16 

H 

114 

1 

94 

If 

15 

2 

15 

1 

12 

li 

9 

1 

14 

2 

14 

2 

134 

2 

12 

H 

13 

H 

12 

14 

13 

2 

12 

1 

15 

2 

15 

14 

11 

2 

15 

H 

14 

2 

16 

1 

Pi 

24 

14 

2 

13 

H 

14 

2 

12 

lf 

14 

1 

15 

1 

15 

li 

13 

2 

1*4 

H 

16 

2 

13 

14 

14 

2 

16 

1 

13 

2 

144 

2 

12 

If 

15 

2 

14 

2 

15 

14 

11 

ii 

13 

li 

12 

li 

14 

i 

12 

i 

12 

1 

16 

l 

^ 

2 

15 

i 

10 

1 

15 

i 

94 

2 

13 

ii 

14 

2 

94 

H 

9 

1 

9 

2 

13 

* 

8 

1  1 

10 

12 

2 

15 

Sept.  24 

14 

12 

ij 

HI 

i 

8 

1 

14 

If 

14 

li 

14 

94 

14 

13 

14 

16 

\ 

H 

16 

\ 

i 

7 

2 

14 

1 

12 

1 

12 

f 

74 

24 

15 

if 

13 

li 

13 

19 


14(5 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Native  cattle — Continued. 


.MALE    AND    FKMAI.K. 


•J. 

A 

00 

X 

X 

g 

o5 

Date. 

I 

g 

Dale. 

3 

H 

Date. 

t 

> 

Date. 

| 

* 

£ 

3 

rJT 

h— 

£ 

M 

CO 

3 

15 

Sept  24 

1 

16 

Sept.  25  

i 

12 

Sept.  25 

1 

11 

1 

U 

14 

li 

15 

2 

15 

1 

124 

i 

12 

1 

16 

li 

14 

1 

11 

j| 

15 

li 

15 

1 

12 

1 

114 

i 

12 

1 

14 

1 

11 

H 

10 

i 

13 

1 

15 

li 

10 

li 

13 

H 

15 

•  li 

10 

1 

9 

li 

12 

i 

111 

li   14 

li 

12 

1 

11 

i 

94 

1 

13 

1 

8 

1 

8 

i 

94 

li 

12 

H 

8 

1 

8 

i 

84 

li 

15 

H 

9 

1 

10  J 

ii 

14 

1 

16 

li 

11 

li 

11 

it 

15 

1 

12 

1 

13 

2 

9 

i 

'-'i 

14 

94 

1 

94 

2 

11 

i 

12 

H 

12 

H 

11 

14 

11 

jjj 

14 

1 

14 

1 

11 

li 

12 

ii 

15 

1 

15 

14 

12 

1 

9 

i 

94 

li 

12 

14 

10 

1 

12 

* 

14 

1 

94 

H 

8 

14 

13 

li 

94 

f 

11 

li 

12 

l 

12 

li 

15 

Sept.  25   

34 

134 

H 

9 

H 

14 

J  -t 

13 

H 

12 

1 

10 

1 

12 

1 

14 

li 

12 

li 

11 

H 

13 

2 

12 

li 

10 

1 

]2 

1 

14 

2 

15 

1 

12 

o 

11 

1 

12 

2 

16 

14 

12 

li 

14 

1 

14 

H 

15 

1 

13 

1 

15 

2 

15 

li 

15 

14 

12 

1 

10 

13 

38 

li 

16 

2 

13 

m 

1* 

14 

2 

11 

li 

13 

i  i 

Total  

1,  9804,  16785i 

a 

16 

24 

13 

i 

li 

14 

H 

15 

1 

10 

1 

14 

Average  

1.459 

12.  362 

Cherokee  cattle. 


Sept.  8  

2 

10 

1 

10 

2 

10 

H 

12 

2 

9 

1 

7 

2 

1(1 

li 

8 

Sept.  9 

2 

10 

li 

9 

2 

10 

2 

13 

1 

8 

u 

8 

Sent.  10  .  . 

11 

7 

Sept.  10 


| 

Sept     10   .    ... 

24 

14 

Sept.   13  

14 

8 

2 

12 

14 

14 

H 

12 

14 

13 

14 

10 

14 

10 

7 

Sept   13  

H 

'  12 

24 

12 

li 

9 

li 

13 

r 

12 

li 

13 

li 

14 

2i 

10 

li 

8 

2 

13 

2i 

14 

1 

8 

24 

10 

li 

11 

li 

10 

2 

12 

li 

9 

H 

11 

2 

12 

li 

12 

li 

10 

2 

13 

2 

15 

14 

11 

li 

12 

li 

10 

2 

111 

14 

8 

2 

14 

li 

10 

* 

li 

10 

li 

12 

11 

111 

14 

111 

li 

111 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

Cherokee  cattle — Continued. 


147 


ce 

00 

Date. 

a 

02 

EH 
* 

Date. 

a 

X 

f- 
4J 
>• 

Date. 

X 

C 

> 

Date. 

o 

| 

"S, 

J 

Si 

3 

£ 

3 

£ 

3 

ri  ,.,1.   1  '> 

10 

Sept  15 

2} 

12 

Sept.  15  

2 

13 

Sept.  18 

2 

12 

M  pi.  io  ....... 

2 

12 

*"2 

2 

13 

li 

13 

1 

7 

Si 

15 

2 

12 

li 

11 

1 

9 

2 

10 

H 

11 

li 

9 

14 

11 

14 

12 

2 

12 

li 

11 

1 

12 

li 

13 

2 

12 

li 

10 

2 

12 

2 

13 

14 

11 

li 

11 

li 

12 

14 

12 

H 

10 

2 

13 

i 

12 

84 

10 

li 

11 

2 

12 

1 

7 

2 

12 

li 

10 

li 

11 

1 

9 

H 

9 

li 

11 

11 

9 

li 

13 

2 

12 

2 

12 

li 

9 

•2 

14 

li 

14 

2 

12 

li 

11 

1 

H 

Sept  14 

14 

2 

12   ; 

2 

13 

1 

7 

2 

12 

li 

11 

li 

11 

n 

8 

li 

9 

li 

9 

2 

13 

14 

8 

14 

13 

1J 

8 

2 

12 

i 

9 

li 

10 

2 

11 

2 

13 

14 

9 

13 

H 

11 

li 

11 

1 

8 

li 

12 

H 

12 

Si 

14 

1 

9 

li 

10 

2 

12 

2 

13 

14 

11 

li 

10 

li 

11 

If 

14 

1 

8 

li 

10 

Si 

13 

2 

13 

1 

7 

2 

14 

2 

12 

g 

13 

1 

9 

H 

10 

14 

11 

2 

12 

14 

10 

li 

12 

14 

11 

li 

10 

1 

10 

21 

15 

2 

13 

li 

11 

14 

13 

14 

11 

14 

9 

14 

12 

1 

11 

10 

j 

li 

9 

li 

9 

1 

1] 

2 

11 

li 

8 

li 

10 

1 

11 

12 

li 

11 

2 

11 

14 

10 

( 

1*) 

Sept  18 

7 

1 

11 

34- 

11 

1  £ 

3 

14 

2 

12 

1 

7 

2 

13 

li 

10 

li 

11 

li 

8 

2 

12 

2 

9 

li 

12 

1 

7 

1 

11 

3 

10 

2 

13 

1 

5 

2 

12 

Si 

9 

li 

9 

i 

7 

H 

13 

3 

12 

li 

10 

1 

8 

2 

9 

2 

11 

o 

11 

14 

8 

1 

7 

2 

10 

14 

12 

1 

11 

14 

8 

2 

10 

li 

10 

li 

7 

1 

9 

3 

10 

14 

2 

9 

li 

9 

Sept  15 

li 

8 

li 

10 

14 

8 

H 

9 

14 

7 

li 

11 

1 

7 

1 

8 

li 

8 

li 

11 

1 

6 

1 

7 

2 

12 

li 

11 

14 

9 

1 

a 

li 

13 

li 

10 

2 

10 

1 

a 

li 

9 

li 

11 

li 

9 

H 

9 

2 

13 

li 

12 

1 

7 

O 

10 

H 

9 

14 

10 

li 

10 

li 

11 

2 

10 

14 

9 

1 

8 

2 

13 

2 

10 

H 

13 

14 

7 

1 

7 

2 

10 

li 

12 

2 

10 

14 

8 

148 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Cherokee  cattle — Continued. 


X 

t£ 

00 

a 

K 

2 

X 

Date. 

33 

p 
03 

Date. 

J 

• 

Date. 

1 

3 

Date. 

5 

3 

BB 

2 

00 

H-  * 

& 

2 

! 

3 

Sept.   18  

14 

11 

Sept.   18 

o 

12 

Sept.   18 

1 

8 

Sept    18 

7 

1 

13 

•2 

12 

1 

9 

11 

9 

2 

12 

g 

13 

14 

7 

1 

8 

24 

13 

2 

13 

14 

5 

14 

7 

2 

13 

14 

11 

11 

7 

11 

7 

2i 

11 

1 

11 

1 

6 

1 

8 

2 

12 

14 

13 

1 

5 

li 

9 

14 

10 

H 

10 

1 

7 

14 

8 

li 

10 

1 

9 

11 

8 

11 

7 

li 

10 

1 

8 

1 

9 

IT 

9 

14 

11 

1 

11 

1 

7 

1 

8 

2 

11 

li 

13 

11 

8 

Sept  25 

9 

12 

i 

1 

9 

14 

9 

H 

11 

24 

14 

1 

10 

1 

9 

2 

12 

'24 

14 

H 

10 

H 

10 

11 

9 

11 

10 

14 

11 

li 

10 

1 

8 

'2 

T2 

11 

H 

1 

8 

li 

9 

2 

12 

li 

8 

1 

7 

2 

11 

11 

11 

1 

7 

1 

(i 

li 

10 

H 

10 

14 

8 

1 

5 

'2 

12 

H 

13 

H 

•' 

11 

7 

Total 

577f 

3,756 

2 

11 

1 

8 

1 

8 

24 

13 

1 

9 

1 

G 

Average 

1.60 

10.  404 

FF.MAI.K. 


Sept.  8  

H 

11 

Sept.  10  

11 

12 

Sept  Ki 

8 

Sept  14 

2 

12 

li 

10 

A  2 

1 

6 

2 

11 

2f 

11 

•2 

Id 

li 

8 

•2 

12 

2 

11 

o 

9 

11 

1) 

Sept.  14   

24 

13 

'21 

9 

1 

7 

1 

7 

13 

*"2 

H 

8 

1 

10 

11 

13 

li 

15 

2 

10 

'2 

10 

li 

10 

14 

14 

2 

10 

•2 

11 

14 

12 

H 

12 

H 

10 

•2 

8 

li 

10 

14 

13 

24 

9 

Sept.  9 

1 

5 

i  j 

11 

1  -i- 

in 

i<j 

14 

1) 

1 

7 

H 

10 

24 

9 

1 

6 

11 

<J 

14 

11 

11 

8 

H 

12 

14 

9 

li 

16 

2i 

14 

i  i 

* 

12 

Sept.  13 

11 

1(1 

1  J 

11 

A  2 

±4 

i* 

2 

10 

2 

15 

H 

10 

If 

11 

2 

12 

'24 

li 

10 

U 

8 

11 

9 

11 

8 

li 

10 

2i 

9 

14 

(J 

2 

12 

<2 

13 

2 

10 

li 

12 

yi 

14 

14 

12 

Sept.  15 

,  , 

4 

1 

8 

2 

10 

H 

12 

ii 

11 

1 

5 

li 

12 

1-J 

10 

14 

10 

2 

10 

LI 

13 

11 

12 

i 

9 

H 

10 

2 

14 

11 

13 

i 

9 

li 

8 

24 

18 

li 

9 

14 

11 

Sept.  10 

14 

14 

2 

15 

n 

8 

.  . 

ID 

14 

10 

*•  2 

H 

10 

n 

12 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 


149 


Cherokee  cattle  —  -Continued. 


Date. 

00 

p 

diT 

3 

Date. 

xt 

g 

•Si 

t> 

Date. 

a 

<X1 

Livers. 

Date. 

X 
<D 

CO 

Livers. 

10 

Sept    lr> 

10 

Sept.  15  

H 

11 

Sept.   18  

14 

11 

o 
2 
24 
14 
14 

13 

12 
14 

11 
H 

14 

1 

14 

H 

11 
9 
11 
12 
12 

Sept    18 

14 

14 
14 
14 

14 

10 
10 
11 
12 
11 

14 
1 

14 

14 

9 

7 
8 
9 
7 

14 

14 

11 
12 

12 

14 
H 
H 

11 
11 
10 

1 

H 
14 

9 
13 
13 

1 
1 

14 

9 

8 
9 

14 

12 

14 

11 

U 

Total   

2441 

l.fill 

14 

13 

1 

14 

9 

10 

14 
14 

11 
12 

1 

12 

Average  

1.G06 

10.  G 

MALE    AXI)    FEMALE. 


II 



o 

n 

C,,,,f   'J 

2i 

14 

Sept.  3  

24 

13 

Sept.  3  ... 

21- 

10 

Aug.  ^0  

o 

•H 

tJ 

8 

r*i  [i  b.  o.  ..•••• 

•  24 

13 

2 

10 

21 

9 

3 

12 

24 

12 

24  i 

12 

24 

10 

2! 

10 

21 

14 

21 

13 

21 

9 

2 

11 

24 

i:t 

2 

10 

24 

8 

21 

9 

2 

13 

14 

9 

21 

8 

24 

12 

2i 

14 

11 

10 

24 

9 

3 

84 

24 

13 

2 

11 

21 

9 

3 

11 

24 

13 

If 

11 

24 

10 

3 

94 

24 

14 

21 

12 

21 

9 

Sept.  "2   

3 

94 

24 

13 

24 

11 

24 

9 

3 

11 

24 

13 

21 

10 

21 

9 

3 

11 

21 

13 

21 

12 

2 

8 

24 

10 

2 

10 

2 

11 

21 

9 

3 

04 

21 

11 

H 

10 

3 

10 

24 

9 

2 

11 

H 

12 

21 

10 

3 

9 

24 

12 

21 

12 

2 

9 

3 

10 

2* 

11 

11 

10 

24 

9 

3 

104 

2 

10 

21 

11 

24 

16 

3 

9 

24 

13 

21 

12 

24 

12 

3J 

9 

24 

11 

24 

10 

2f 

15 

Sept  11 

2i 

10 

24 

12 

21 

8 

4 

13 

2* 

13 

14 

9 

24 

8 

2 

10 

2i 

10 

2 

10 

24 

9 

2 

11 

2 

11 

21 

11 

24 

10 

s 

2 

10 

24 

14 

21 

10 

24 

9 

3 

11 

\ 

14 

10 

2 

11 

24 

10 

3 

12 

1J 

11 

21 

10 

21 

8 

2 

9 

24 

12 

24 

13 

24 

10 

2 

15 

21 

11 

21 

10 

24 

10 

24 

12 

2i 

13 

21 

12 

21 

9 

2 

13 

24 

14 

2 

10 

n 

21 

8 

2J 

12 

2i 

12 

14 

8 

24 

10 

24 

12 

2 

13 

21 

12 

21 

8 

2 

11 

21 

13 

24 

13 

2 

8 

:t 

11 

24 

14 

21 

10 

21 

8 

H 

12 

150 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

C/iero  l;ec  cattle — Continued . 


MALI:  AND  FEMALE. 


Date. 

X 

£ 

- 

«T 

Livers. 

Date. 

K 

QJ 

$ 

I1 

Livers. 

Date. 

•j. 

$ 
$ 

't, 

0} 

Livers. 

Date. 

3C 

c 
$ 

O 

"H. 

DO 

Livers. 

Sept.  4 

2i 

12 

Sept.  4 

2 

i) 

Sept.  G  

23- 

10 

Sept  10 

;j 

11 

2 

10 

2 

10 

2i 

11 

31 

9 

2i 

11 

H 

9 

2 

9 

3 

94 

24 

13 

2i 

11 

2 

8 

4 

94 

2 

9 

24 

10 

li 

13 

3 

104 

If 

8 

2i 

10 

li 

8 

2f 

9 

li 

'.) 

24 

12 

2* 

11 

2J 

10 

H 

8 

2i 

11 

2i 

13 

21 

1) 

li 

1(1 

24 

13 

li 

8 

2J 

14 

2 

11 

2i 

11 

2i 

12 

3 

11 

2i 

12 

2 

10 

2i 

13 

34 

94 

2i 

12 

2 

12 

li 

8 

4 

U 

2i 

11 

li 

9 

U 

9 

4i 

94 

O 

it 

li 

11 

li 

11 

3 

10 

2i 

12 

ii 

in 

2i 

12 

31 

9 

2i 

Id 

24 

13 

2 

10 

:'-i 

8* 

2 

<j 

Sept  0 

2 

13 

Sepr.7  

11 

10 

21 

94- 

]i 

8 

2i 

13 

H 

12 

"-it 
2i 

a 

24 

12 

2 

12 

li 

12 

3 

94 

li 

9 

2i 

13 

2i 

14 

3} 

9 

2 

12 

2 

11 

2i 

12 

34 

94 

H 

Id 

2 

111 

21 

13 

24 

84 

2J 

12 

li 

1(1 

2 

12 

3 

Uf 

8* 

11 

U 

8 

2i 

11 

4 

94 

at 

11 

li 

9 

2i 

14 

Sept.  11 

2J 

8 

24 

12 

li 

11 

2 

10 

3 

94 

24 

12 

2i 

13 

li 

9 

3 

10 

2 

9 

2i 

13 

1J 

10 

''3 

94 

1* 

9 

2.J 

12 

2i 

12 

Sept.  14 

2 

15 

2 

8 

2 

10 

2i 

13 

li 

10 

H 

g 

2 

0 

2i 

13 

li 

10 

li 

11 

2i 

12 

2i 

13 

li 

12 

24 

12 

24 

11 

21 

14 

U 

13 

B4 

12 

2i 

13 

21 

13 

U 

14 

24 

11 

li 

!» 

2i 

14 

li 

10 

2i 

12 

2 

1(1 

2i 

15 

li 

ir> 

li 

9 

H 

12 

21 

14 

H 

13 

li 

0 

2 

11 

2 

10 

li 

10 

2 

1(1 

2J 

12 

2 

11 

/ 

li 

12 

2i 

12 

2i 

11 

2i 

13 

li 

12 

li 

11 

2i 

1(1 

2i 

14 

li 

10 

li 

11 

2i 

U 

'-. 

13 

14 

9 

2i 

12 

2 

10 

2i 

14 

U 

14 

2i 

12 

2 

SI 

2 

10 

li 

13 

•' 

12 

21 

13 

2i 

14 

li 

18 

2i 

11 

2i 

12 

2i 

13 

H 

10 

li 

'.» 

2i 

12 

2i 

12 

li 

12 

li 

11 

2i 

12 

2i 

13 

li 

1(1 

2 

11 

21 

13 

Sept.  10 

24 

!M 

li 

!) 

2i 

in 

**1 

2 

10 

^4 

24 

v  2 

10 

*  3 

H 

12 

2 

11 

2 

9 

3i 

1(1 

li 

12 

2i 

11 

2i 

13 

2i 

11 

li 

12 

2i 

12 

2i 

11 

24 

9J 

2 

13 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

Cherolcee  cattle — Continued. 

MALE    AND    FEMALE. 


151 


Date. 

X 

1 

/| 

s 

4> 

Date. 

CC 

a 

V 

$ 

g 

4> 

Date. 

* 

9 

O 

vers. 

Date. 

X 

Z 

9 

ivers. 

a? 

3 

02 

3 

&      3 

CO 

J 

Q(VMt   -I  A 

1-J.    JO     Sii.nt   1-1 

3 

9|  '  Sept.  17 

21   10    Sept.  23.. 

34 

12 

14  i  10 

4 

8                 24   10 

2 

9 

ji   IQ   Sept  10 

2A 

8  1'  Sept.  18      '   2     91 

24 

84 

14  !   8                24 

9                 3     c'4 

Sept.  24   

3     10 

14  :  14 

3 

11 

3     9 

3      94 

1!   10 

3| 

10 

24   H 

3      9 

14 

14 

3 

94 

2|-   10 

2;;     1U 

H 

13 

2.1 

84 

3   ;    9 

31    10 

H   12 

9*            :u   ei 

3i     94 

14   14 

34    8 

2 

12 

3     10 

11   i:i   Si.nt.  17       24 

9 

21   11 

34  :  -11 

iij   i" 
14   l"> 

24 

8-4 

24 

12 

3f    114 

3 

9 

3 

9 

3 

9 

4 

10 

3 

8 

3 

<H                34 

9J 

4 

10 

4 

10 

21 

11 

Sept  23 

3 

10 

31 

12 

41 

12 

3 

12 

34 

9 

3 

94 

3 

;> 

24 

114 

24 

94 

9 

3 

11 

3 

94 

3 

12 

24     9 

31 

12 

3 

10 

3 

11 

10 

3f    9 

34 

11 

24 

Tntnl         1.  (13  114.  7071 

3 

10 

2 

11                 2f 

14 

3J 

84 

24 

14 

3 

10     Average  ....2.345  10.81 

Texan  cattle. 


01 

i 

Hi-nt  111 

21 

13 

Sept,  11 

3 

13 

Sept.  11  

21 

12 

Sept.  8  

•'4 
31 

u  < 

*•  2   ; 

24 

12 

3 

14 

24 

10 

34 
3 

10 
9 

3 

3 

12 

14 

24 
24 

14 
13 

24 

21 

11 

10 

34 

12 

24 

13 

34 

10 

3 

13 

3 

10 

3 

17 

3 

10 

3 

14 

31 

12 

3 

14 

3 

12 

3 

12 

3 

2 

13 

24 

13 

34 

13 

34 

12 

14 

24 
21 

11 
14 

3 

3 

14 
14 

24 
2 

14 

13 

3 

10 

2 

13 

3 

14 

24 

14 

Sept.  9   - 

i  •> 

24 

14 

3 

12 

2 

13 

21 
2 

L.> 
11 

13 

24 
24 

12 
13 

3 
3 

12 
12 

24 
24 

13 

12 

2 

14 

2 

12 

3 

12 

2 

9 

14 

Sept  13 

3 

14 

pi 

14 

11 

10 

24 
2 

16 
12 

2 
24 

10 
12 

24 
21 

13 
12 

24 

13 
13 

o 

11 

2 

10 

3 

14 

3 

14 

24 

24 
3 

11 
11 
11 

2 

24 
24 

9 
12 
14 

34 
24 

24 

13 
12 

11 

24 
34 
3 

11 
16 
21 

Sept  10 

24 

12 

If 

1 

8 
9 

34 

24 

14 
10 

2 
3 

10 
12 

21 

14 

2 

11 

| 

21 

14 

3 

13 

152 


DEPAETMENT  OF  AGKICULTUEE. 

Texan  cattle — Continued. 


rfj 
Z 

i 

X 

X 

73 

Date. 

& 

>• 

Date. 

^  ~* 

.; 

Date. 

"t 

\ 

Date. 

CJ 

P 

& 

3 

K 

3 

£ 

3 

ds" 

3 

Sept.  13  

24 

12 

Sept.  15  

24 

13 

Sept.  10  .  . 

24 

13 

Sept.  10 

14 

12 

13 

2 

12 

2 

12 

*a 

i 

11 

3 

13 

34 

10 

2 

12 

i 

-  12 

24 

10 

2 

11 

2 

13 

2 

13 

2 

12 

3 

13 

2 

13 

3 

14 

24 

14 

24 

12 

24 

13 

24 

13 

3 

13 

2 

12 

2 

13 

24 

13 

24 

12 

3 

13 

2 

12 

2 

13 

3 

13 

2 

15 

2 

13 

2 

13 

24 

10 

14 

12 

2 

13 

2 

13 

2 

12 

2 

11 

2 

14 

2 

13 

3 

14 

3i 

10 

14 

11 

H 

12 

3 

14 

3 

12 

14 

12 

2 

13 

3 

13 

24 

13 

2 

12 

2 

13 

34 

15 

3 

10 

2 

13 

2 

13 

Sept.  14 

01 

10 

24 

9 

9-1 

1  -. 

, 

'"t 

"-2 

io 

14 

3 

12 

24 

12 

24 

15 

14 

11 

3 

14 

3 

13 

24 

13 

14 

11 

34 

13 

24 

15 

3 

14 

14 

12 

24 

10 

2 

10 

2 

15 

2 

11 

24 

11 

3 

12 

24 

13 

14 

13 

3 

12 

24 

15 

24 

13 

2 

11 

2f 

10 

3 

10 

24 

12 

14 

13 

Sept.  15  ... 

2A 

24 

24- 

13 

O 

1O 

i  Q 

^2 

~* 

4, 

i  V 

2 

l.J 

24 

12 

Sept.  KJ  - 

24 

14 

2i 

12 

... 

i  't 

„, 

HI 

2 

15 

Sept.  18 

q 

LO 

*3 

O 

10 

24 

11 

3 

15 

2 

12 

34 

13 

2 

13 

24 

12 

24 

13 

2* 

15 

3 

13 

2 

13 

24 

12 

24 

12 

3i 

14 

2 

12 

2 

13 

O 

13 

2i 

10 

2 

13 

2 

14 

2 

10 

li 

10 

2 

12 

24 

13 

H 

15 

2 

8 

24 

13 

24 

12 

3 

13 

3 

13 

H 

11 

2 

14 

2 

10 

24 

15 

2 

12 

2 

13 

3 

15 

24 

13 

2 

13 

2 

12 

3 

11 

2 

10 

2 

13 

2 

13 

24 

12 

24 

12 

24 

13 

2 

12 

H 

11 

3 

10 

2 

12 

14 

11 

2 

12 

24 

15 

2 

13 

14 

11 

3 

13 

2 

12 

24 

14 

14 

10 

24 

11 

24 

13 

2 

13 

2 

12 

3 

12 

H 

10 

2 

14 

2 

15 

24 

10 

2 

11 

2 

14 

24 

'  14 

3 

11 

3 

13 

2 

14 

24 

13 

2 

10 

3 

12 

2 

13 

2 

13 

24 

12 

2 

U 

24 

14 

2 

12 

2 

11 

3 

12 

24 

14 

H 

11 

24 

13 

1| 

!> 

2 

13 

14 

10 

3 

10 

2 

10 

24 

13 

14 

10 

2 

15 

24 

13 

24 

14 

14 

11 

24 

I) 

H 

12 

2 

13  , 

H 

12 

2 

14 

2 

12 

2i 

14 

H 

11 

3 

13 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVEK. 

Texan  cattle — Continued. 


153 


Date. 

a 

3 

50 

(E 

Date. 

M 
d 

g 

Date. 

a 

e 

OJ 

Date. 

a 

9 

05 

(H 

3J 

CO 

3 

so* 

3 

"5 

02 

3 

OQ 

3 

S.1T.f  i  o 

g 

Sept  18 

2 

13 

Sept.  18  

2 

11 

Sept.  25   .... 

2 

11 

2 

10 

3 

14 

13 

2 

13 

3 

15 

3 

13 

11 

11 

2 

15 

3 

13 

3 

13 

11 

11 

2      10 

3 

15 

21 

13 

2 

12 

21     13 

3 

10 

2 

12 

2 

12 

2  :    13 

3 

12 

21 

13 

11 

12 

If     11 

21 

15 

1 

11 

1 

11 

2      12 

2 

12 

H 

12 

H 

12 

2 

13 

3 

13 

21 

13 

2 

13 

21 

13 

2 

12 

2 

13 

H 

11 

2 

12 

3 

11 

H 

14 

11 

11 

11 

11 

2i 

12 

H 

13 

2 

13 

1 

10 

31 

10 

2 

14 

2 

10 

21 

13 

3 

11 

21 

13 

2 

11 

2. 

12 

21 

13 

2 

14 

2 

11 

21 

13 

2 

10 

11 

13 

21 

12 

2 

14 

3 

13 

11 

14 

2 

13 

21 

12 

21 

11 

2 

13 

21 

11 

2 

13 

3 

10 

2 

14 

21 

13 

2 

12 

21 

12 

21 

15 

H 

9 

H 

13 

3 

13 

2 

13 

1 

10 

1 

9 

2 

10 

H 

14 

Sept  24 

H 

11 

U 

10 

21 

11 

1 

12 

11 

9 

H 

12 

3 

13 

11 

13 

H 

12 

1 

9 

2 

13 

2 

11 

21 

14 

H    12 

11 

11 

21 

13 

2 

13 

2 

13 

1 

11 

2 

13 

2 

14 

2     12 

H 

13 

2 

11 

2 

15 

21     14 

H 

.  10 

11 

12 

2 

13 

2     13 

1 

9 

2 

14 

21 

14 

21 

14 

1 

8 

H 

13 

2 

13 

2 

13 

1 

11 

2 

14 

21 

14 

11 

10 

H 

13 

2 

13 

21 

14 

11 

11 

2 

13 

2^ 

12 

2 

13 

2 

12 

21 

12 

2 

13 

2 

12 

11 

11 

2 

13 

11 

11 

21 

14 

11 

10 

11 

11 

10 

21 

13 

21 

13 

2 

13 

2 

13 

2 

14 

2 

12 

2 

13 

21 

14 

21 

14 

H 

12 

21 

12 

2 

13 

2 

13 

2 

13 

11 

11 

10 

2 

13 

12 

3 

21 

15 
14 

Total  

1,  IW, 

.  0,070 

H 

12 

2 

11 

3 

15 

2 

14 

2 

11 

Sept.  25  

2 

10 

Average  

2.  259 

12.36 

H 

13 

2 

12 

14 

12 

Sept  8 

91 

H 

Sept  8 

21 

12 

Sept.  8  

9 

10 

Sept.  8  

2i 

15 

2i 

10 

21 

12 

2i 

11 

3 

12 

2 

10 

21 

10 

3 

13 

2i 

16 

20 


154 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Texan  cattle — Continued. 


FEMALE. 


Date. 

Spleens. 

Livers. 

Date. 

m 

« 
$ 

OQ 

Livers. 

Date. 

cc 

q 
g? 
$ 

'3< 

CO 

Livers. 

Date. 

ao 

9 

G. 

fe 

cc 

Livers. 

Sept.  8  

21 

14 

Sept.  8  

21 

16 

Sept    10 

11 

9 

Sept  13 

3 

1  '! 

2 

15 

3 

15 

2 

10 

21 

12 

M 

24 

2 

10 

Total 

69J 

360 

3 

1(> 

2f 

16 

1+ 

10 

21 

15 

Sept.  10  

a 

11 

2 

10 

2  387 

12  41'! 

1 

MALE  AND  FEMALE. 


Sept.  2 

3 

12 

Sept.  4  

14 

10 

Sept.  4 

21 

14 

Sept  4 

>>i 

12 

3 

lOf 

24 

11 

~y 

21 

12 

~4 

21 

13 

3 

91 

2 

12 

21 

14 

24 

15 

4 

12 

(M 

** 

16 

2S 

13 

24 

14 

3 

11 

2 

14 

2i 

12 

21 

13 

3 

10 

24 

10 

2i 

13 

21 

14 

24 

12 

2 

12 

2 

11 

21 

14 

3 

12 

2} 

12 

2i 

14 

2 

10 

3 

11 

If 

13 

2i 

13 

21 

12 

3 

Hi 

2 

15 

21 

13 

21 

13 

2* 

10 

2 

12 

2i 

13 

2J 

12 

2f 

10 

2 

13 

2i 

14 

Sept.  C  .  . 

21 

14 

24 

11 

24 

15 

21 

14 

2J 

14 

24 

11 

3 

12 

2* 

13 

2± 

13 

3 

11 

3 

11 

2i 

14 

21 

13 

3 

12 

3 

12 

21 

14 

24 

14 

34 

10 

3 

10 

2 

11 

21 

13 

3 

12 

3 

10 

21 

14 

21 

13 

Sept.3  

2f 

9* 

3 

12 

24 

14 

24 

14 

3 

101 

24 

9 

21 

13 

2 

12 

24 

11 

24 

12 

21 

12 

21 

14 

2f 

13 

2 

13 

2i 

10 

at 

14 

3 

12 

3 

10 

2± 

11 

2 

12 

a* 

11 

3 

12 

21 

14 

21 

14 

2* 

9 

2 

12 

24 

14 

2i 

13 

34 

11 

24 

12 

24 

12 

21 

14 

4 

13 

2 

10 

21 

10 

24 

15 

34 

10 

2 

10 

24 

12 

21 

13 

3J 

11 

24 

12 

»i 

13 

2* 

14 

3* 

9 

24 

12 

24 

13 

at 

13 

3i 

10 

2 

12 

21 

14 

24 

14 

3 

104 

Si 

14 

21 

13 

21 

13 

3| 

11 

21 

13 

21 

13 

2i 

14 

3 

10 

3 

14 

21 

12 

at 

13 

3 

10 

24 

13 

21 

13 

24 

14 

34 

11 

2i 

12 

21 

10 

.21 

15 

3i 

it 

2i 

11 

2i 

10 

2 

12 

3f 

114 

2 

10 

24 

14 

at 

12 

21 

<» 

2* 

13 

2* 

13 

2i 

13 

Sept.  4 

2 

10 

01 

1  0 

*i 

U 

2i 

12 

24 

12 

2 

11 

2i 

13 

24 

13 

at 

13 

3 

12 

2 

10 

21 

14 

2 

10 

a* 

10 

2} 

13 

24 

13 

at 

12 

THE  SPLENIC  FEVER. 

Texan  cattle — Continued. 

MALE   AJJD   FEMALE. 


155 


Date. 

H 

a 

$ 

I 

Livers. 

Date. 

03 
g 

Livers. 

Date. 

c 
$ 

OJ 

do1 

Livers. 

Date. 

0 

Livers. 

Sept  G 

01 

10 

Sept  7 

21 

11 

Sept.  7  

24 

14 

Sept.  9  

34 

9 

*ry 

3 

104 

2J 

94 

3 

15 

3J 

10 

34 

114 

2 

84 

3* 

14 

4 

94 

24 

114 

34 

94 

24 

13 

44 

11 

4 

10 

24 

14 

2i 

14 

35 

11 

Ql 

94- 

14 

t> 

H 

Sept.  11 

3 

9 

24 

10 

2 

12 

3 

84 

34 

lit 

24 

'  14 

24 

13 

1 

14 

2f 

114 

2i 

12 

2J 

16 

34 

10 

3 

11 

24 

14 

14 

12 

4 

11 

3f 

12 

24 

12 

24 

10 

34 

94 

24 

12 

24 

13 

3 

12 

34 

12 

8 

13 

2 

9 

24 

13 

34 

9 

34 

10 

2i 

10 

2 

13 

34 

11 

3 

10 

24 

13 

2| 

10 

3 

10 

34 

94 

•  24 

15 

24 

12 

31 

12 

4 

10 

24 

14 

24 

iii 

3 

8 

S.irvf   *t 

34 

0 

11 

3 

A 

13 

If 

2 

24 
13 

3 

9 

O 

1  ft 

1 

11 

i  \ 

Sept  8 

3 

12 

Total    .  . 

699 

3.126 

34 

1U 

L'± 
-i  * 

111 

3 

10-A- 

24 

14 

**s 

lit 

0  1 

91 

1r 

4 

91 

A\'cr;i<yv 

2.667 

11.931 

94 

|*I 

O 

^2 

44 

91 

24 

14 

3 

9i 

3 

10 

24 

14 

Sept.  9 

24 

10 

REPORT  OF  RESULTS  OF  EXAMINATIONS  OF  FLUIDS  OF  DISEASED  CATTLE  WITH  REFERENCE 

TO  PRESENCE  OF  CUYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS. 


SIR  :  In  accordance  with  your  request,  and  with  instructions  received  from  the  Sur 
geon  General  United  States  Army,  to  investigate  the  question  of  the  possible  cryptogamic 
origin  of  cattle  diseases,  we  have  carefully  examined  many  samples  of  blood  and  secre 
tions  from  diseased  cattle,  furnished  us  from  time  to  time  by  Professor  Gamgee,  and  have 
experimented  with  them  in  various  ways.  The  results  of  our  investigations  we  have  to 
report  as  follows. 

The  questions  which  we  have  endeavored  to  answer  are  these : 

1st.  Are  any  forms  of  cryptogamic  growth  present  during  life  in  the  blood  or  secre 
tions  of  the  diseased  animals? 

2d.  If  so,  of  what  character  are  they,  and  what  is  their  probable  source? 

Supposing  the  foregoing  queries  answered,  there  would  still  remain  the  problem  of  the 
nature  of  the  connection  between  the  cryptogam  and  the  disease,  a  problem  which  we  have 
not  attempted  to  discuss. 

As  the  fungi  are  the  only  cryptogams  which  it  is  necessary  to  consider,  reference  will 
be  made  to  these  only. 

The  fungi  which  are  supposed  to  cause  disease  in  animals  are,  when  in  their  perfect 
state,  or  at  least  in  such  a  state  that  they  can  be  identified,  composed  of  mycelium  and 
spores.  But  according  to  the  advocates  of  the  cryptogamic  origin  of  disease,  neither  the 
mycelium  nor  the  spores  of  the  fungus  that  produces  the  malady  are  necessarily  or  even 
usually  to  be  found  in  the  fluids  or  tissues  of  the  affected  animal,  their  theory  being  that 
the  disease  is  produced  by  the  presence  in  the  economy  of  rnimite  particles  of  protoplasm, 
(rnicrococcus  of  Hallier,)  resulting  from  development  and  breaking  up  of  the  spores  or 
mycelium  of  a  fungus ;  from  which  granules,  they  assert,  can  be  developed  perfect  forms  of 
fungi,  of  recognizable  genera  and  species,  by  proper  "cultivation"  outside  of  the  body  of 
the  animal  fluids  containing  them. 

Thus,  when  the  blood  of  a  pleuropneumonic  cow,  fresh  from  the  vein,  is  examined 
with  a  magnifying  power  of  1,200  diameters  linear,  nothing  distinctive  or  unusual  may 
appear;  the  red  and  white  blood  corpuscles  may  be  perfectly  normal,  and  nothing  like 
spores  or  mycelium  will  be  seen.  But  there  will  probably  be,  either  single  or  in  masses, 
some  minute  granules  or  molecules  appearing  as  glistening  points  scattered  over  the  field. 
If  such  are  not  present  at  first,  by  keeping  the  blood  exposed  to  the  air  for  a  few  hours 
they  may  be  found  in  abundance. 

Now,  it  is  these  little  molecules  which  are  asserted  to  cause  disease  by  their  presence 
in  the  animal  economy,  and  which  are  claimed  to  be  vegetable  in  their  nature,  as  being 
developed  from  and  capable  of  reproducing  certain  common  fungi,  popularly  known  as 
rusts,  smuts,  or  molds. 

To  prove  the  truth  of  the  latter  statement,  experiments  have  been  made  by  various 
investigators  on  the  principle  of  placing  the  fluids  containing  the  rnicrococcus  in  the  proper 
conditions  as  regards  warmth  and  moisture  for  the  development  of  fungi ;  supplying  the 
germs  with  suitable  pabulum  for  their  nourishment,  and  adopting  such  precautions  as  are 
possible  against  the  fortuitous  introduction  of  spores  of  fungi  from  the  atmosphere.  And 


EXPERIMENTS  WITH  CRYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS.  157 

if,  under  such  circumstances,  a  mold  or  mildew  appears  upon  the  suspected  matter,  the  argu 
ment  is  that  such  mold  necessarily  sprung  from  the  micrococcus  granules  as  its  parent  germs, 
and  therefore  represents  the  perfect  fungus  of  which  such  micrococcus  is  a  special  form. 

Now,  since  the  spores  of  the  common  molds  are  almost  omnipresent,  the  conclusive- 
ness  of  all  such  experiments  must  depend  upon  the  possibility  of  showing  that  all  extrane 
ous  bodies  have  been  perfectly  excluded  from  the  fluids  cultivated. 

In  detailing  our  own  experiments  in  this  direction,  therefore,  we  give  a  somewhat 
minute  description  of  the  apparatus  and  processes  employed,  partly  that  the  value  of  the 
results  obtained  may  be  judged  by  it,  and  in  part  because  it  may  be  of  use  to  others  at 
tempting  a  similar  line  of  research. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  obtain  the  suspected  fluids  in  a  state  of  purity,  with 
out  risk  of  contamination  by  spores  floating  in  the  atmosphere,  and  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  can  be  preserved  for  some  time  without  risk  of  material  change. 

To  effect  this  we  take  a  glass  tube  about  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  seal 
one  end  by  the  flame  of  a  lamp,  and,  at  a  point  about  three  inches  from  the  sealed  end, 
draw  it  out  to  a  slender  tube,  (a.) 

The  tube  is  then  held  nearly  upright  in  the  flame  of  a  Bunsen  burner  until  the  whole 
of  the  sealed  end  up  to  the  narrow  neck  is  red-hot.  The  part  in  the  flame  is  held  with 
pincers,  the  other  end  in  the  fingers,  and  when  f/ 

the  requisite  heat  is  obtained  the  slender  neck  is    - 
rapidly  drawn  to  a  point  and  sealed.     We  now 
have  a  pointed,  hermetically-scaled  tube,  (b,)  in 

which  there  is  a  partial  vacuum,  and  in  which  by  the  red  heat  all  organic  matters  have 
been  destroyed. 

This  we  call  a  "vacuum  tube." 

Suppose,  now,  that  we  want  some  blood  for  experiment.  As  soon  as  possible  after 
the  death  of  the  animal,  lay  bare  the  jugular  vein,  prick  it  with  a  lancet,  introduce  the 
pointed  end  of  the  tube  and  break  it  off  within  the  vein,  pressure  being  at  the  same  time 
made  upon  the  vessel  from  above  and  below  toward  the  opening  by  the  fingers  of  an 
assistant.  The  blood  will  rush  into  the  tube,  and  if  it  has  been  properly  made,  will  fill  it 
for  three-fourths  of  its  length.  Then,  holding  a  lighted  spirit  lamp  or  candle  close  to  the 
vein,  withdraw  the  point  of  the  tube  directly  from  the  vessel  into  the  flame,  and  hold  it 
there  until  sealed. 

If  the  operation  has  been  properly  performed,  and  the  blood  be  healthy,  it  will  coag 
ulate  and  then  remain  unchanged  for  an  indefinite  period. 

Exudates  in  the  pleural  or  peritoneal  cavities,  bile,  urine,  etc.,  are  obtained  and  pre 
served  in  the  same  way. 

The  next  step  is  to  place  the  material  thus  obtained  in  favorable  conditions  for  the 
growth  and  development  of  any  fungus  germs  which  it  may  contain.  The  requisites  for 
this  purpose  are  warmth,  moisture,  a  supply  of  nutritive  material,  and  exclusion  of  foreign 
spores. 

With  regard  to  this  last  point,  we  reasoned  as  follows  : 

By  no  amount  of  precautions  or  of  complexity  of  apparatus  is  it  possible  to  secure 
such  absolute  isolation  of  a  fragment  of  tissue  or  a  quantity  of  blood  from  possible  contact 
with  foreign  spores,  that  the  results  obtained  from  its  cultivation  can  be  considered  as  posi- 


158 


DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


lively  conclusive.  By  no  means  known  to  us  can  a  piece  of  lung  be  transferred  from  the 
body  of  an  animal  to  the  interior  of  a  glass  flask  without  contact  with  the  atmosphere  and 
with  instruments,  nor  even  with  the  more  manageable  blood  can  we  be  absolutely  certain, 
when  we  see  its  surface  covered  with  mold,  that  the  possibly  single  spore  from  which  that 
forest  sprang  must  infallibly  have  been  in  the  vein  of  the  animal  whence  the  blood  was 
drawn.  It  was  felt,  therefore,  that  to  adopt  at  the  outset  extraordinary  precautions  against 
the  introduction  of  foreign  spores  would  be  more  apt  to  lead  to  error  than  even  taking 
none  at  all.  The  method  of  comparison  was  therefore  resorted  to. 

Let  us  first  see,  we  argued,  whether,  without  taking  special  pains  to  prevent  the 
entrance  of  extraneous  matters,  the  tissues  and  fluids  of  a  diseased  animal  will  produce 
fungi  which  healthy  tissues  and  fluids  placed  side  by  side  with  them  will  not.  The  appa 
ratus  employed  consists  of  the  following: 

1st.  The  so-called  "isolation  apparatus." 

This  consists  of  a  thin  flat -bottomed  flask,  of  four  to  eight  ounces  capacity,  closed  by 
a  cork  dipped  in  paraffine.     Through  the  cork  passes  a  glass 
tube  bent  twice  at  right  angles,  reaching  about  two  inches  into 
the  flask,  and  having  the  external  end  loosely  closed  by  a  pled 
get  of  dry  cotton  or  jewelers'  wool. 

This  is  used  in  operating  upon  considerable  quantities  or 
masses  of  material  which  are  to  remain  undisturbed  for  several 
days,  weeks,  or  months. 

To  follow  out  the  changes  which  occur  from  day  to  day, 
and  especially  to  trace  under  the  microscope  the  commencement 
and  progress  of  any  fungous  growth,  growing  slides  of  various 
patterns,  and  the  so-called  culture  apparatus,  were  employed.  V.. 
This  last  was  made  as  follows: 


In  a  flat  glass  capsule,  six  inches  in  diameter  and  one  and  a  half  inch  high,  is  placed 

a  porcelain  stand  two  inches  high,  on  which  is  laid  a 
glass  plate,  which  serves  as  a  shelf  to  hold  watch 
glasses,  growing  slides,  &c.  In  the  capsule  covering 
the  stand  and  plate  stands  a  bell-jar,  closed  at  the 
top  by  a  rubber  cork  or  cork  dipped  in  paraffine, 
through  which  passes  a  tube  bent  and  packed  with 


cotton,  as  in  the  isolation  apparatus.  When  in 
use  the  external  space  between  the  bell-jar  and  the 
capsule  is  filled  with  a  strong  solution  of  perman 
ganate  of  potash.  We  thus  obtain  a  moist  chamber, 
which,  by  means  of  a  water  bath,  can  be  readily  kept 
at  any  desired  temperature. 

The  above -described  forms  of  apparatus  are 
essentially  those  used  by  Hallier,  but  he  provides  for 
drawing  into  the  flask  or  bell-jar  fresh  air,  which  he 
purifies  from  foreign  matters  by  causing  it  to  pass 
through  alcohol  or  a  solution  of  permanganate  of  pot 
ash.  It  seems  to  us  that  this  plan  gives  more  complexity  and  trouble  without  additional 


EXPERIMENTS  WITH  CRYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS.  159 

security ;  for  we  have  repeatedly  caused  spores  of  various  species  of  fungi  to  germinate 
after  they  had  been  one  or  two  minutes  in  alcohol;  and  spores  being  not  easily  wet  by 
water,  they  would  readily  pass  without  injury  in  a  bubble  of  air  drawn  through  any  aque 
ous  solution.  The  risk  of  spores  passing  through  an  inch  of  dry  cotton  loosely  packed  in 
a  tube,  unless  by  the  aid  of  a  strong  and  long-continued  current  of  air,  is  probably  very 
small. 

Of  course  the  most  satisfactory  proof  of  the  presence  of  fungous  germs  in  the  blood 
would  be  to  see  them  actually  develop  under  the  microscope,  and  produce  the  forms  by 
which  they  could  be  identified.  To  this  end  we  have  made  use  of  the  various  forms  of 
growing  slides  known  to  microscopists,  but  with  results  not  very  satisfactory.  For  the 
general  purposes  of  a  growing  slide,  that  which  has  given  the  most  satisfaction  is  made 
by  laying  on  an  ordinary  glass  slide,  three  inches  by  one,  a  piece  of  thin,  fine,  white 
blotting  paper  of  the  same  size,  with  an  opening  in  the  center  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in 
diameter,  or  a  little  less  than  that  of  the  thin  glass  cover  used.  The  edges  of  the  paper 
may  be  cemented  to  the  glass  with  a  little  Canada  balsam,  although  this  is  not  necessary. 

To  use  it,  put  in  strong  alcohol  for  ten  minutes,  then  in  distilled  water  for  the  same 
length  of  time;  free  the  central  opening  from  water;  place  in  it  a  drop  of  the  fluid  to  be 
cultivated,  and  cover  it  with  a  very  thin  glass  cover.  Care  must  be  taken  to  keep  it 
perfectly  flat.  Place  the  slide  in  a  culture  apparatus,  in  which  water  alone  is  used  as  the 
isolating  fluid;  let  one  end  of  a  piece  of  sewing  thread  rest  on  the  end  of  the  slide  and 
the  other  dip  into  the  water. 

If  the  slide  is  to  be  used  without  being  placed  in  a  moist  chamber,  the  paper  should 
be  covered  with  a  piece  of  thin  sheet-rubber  or  oiled  silk,  of  the  same  shape  and  size,  and 
with  a  corresponding  opening.  If  it  be  desired  to  use  high  powers,  or  to  trace  the  germi 
nations  of  a  spore  found  in  examining  a  slide,  the  glass  cover  may  rest  on  the  slide,  and 
the  blotting  paper  be  placed  on  instead  of  under  it. 

If  it  is  desired  to  develop  the  fruit,  the  drop  of  alimentary  fluid  should  be  small, 
and  a  groove  should  be  cut  in  the  paper  to  the  edge  of  the  slide  to  allow  the  admission  of 
air.  The  amount  of  moisture  can  be  regulated  at  will  by  varying  the  size  and  number  of 
the  threads  used  to  keep  the  paper  wet.  This  slide  is  simple,  cheap,  and  susceptible  of 
being  so  modified  that  it  is  available  for  almost  every  purpose  for  which  a  growing  slide 
is  required. 

De  Bary's  growing  slides  were  also  used  several  times,  and  were  very  satisfactory. 

Another  form  of  development  apparatus,  which  was  used  toward  the  close  of  our 
experiments,  consisted  of  a  six-ounce  glass  beaker,  having  a  little  water  at  the  bottom, 
and  hermetically  closed  by  a  piece  of  thin  sheet-rubber  tightly  stretched  over  the  top. 
From  the  center  of  this  cover  there  was  suspended  by  a  thread  a  strip  of  thin  blotting 
paper  which  had  been  previously  soaked  in  alcohol  and  distilled  water,  and  on  which  the 
material  to  be  cultivated  had  been  placed.  The  thread  was  attached  to  the  cover  and  the 
paper  by  Canada  balsam.  This  is  a  sort  of  isolation  apparatus,  and  is  more  satisfactory 
than  the  one  used  by  Professor  Hallier. 

The  material  or  substratum  upon  which  the  cultures  are  made,  and  which  is  intended 
to  furnish  nutriment  to  the  fungi,  is  of  various  kinds.  We  used  extract  of  beef,  healthy 
blood,  condensed  milk,  solutions  of  cane  and  grape  sugar,  pulp  of  lemon,  orange,  pota 
to,  &c. 


1GO  DEPAKTMEXT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

The  solutions  of  sugar  used  were  made  with  crystallized  sugar,  and  a  little  tartrate 
of  ammonia  and  ashes  of  yeast  were  added  to  furnish  the  nitrogen  and  salts  required  for 
the  growth  of  fungi. 

All  the.  apparatus  was  thoroughly  cleansed  previous  to  use,  by  washing  with  alcohol 
and  freshly-boiled  distilled  water,  and  the  solutions  of  sugar,  milk,  beef  juice,  etc.,  were 
thoroughly  boiled;  and,  if  filtered,  reboiled  before  they  were  used. 

SERIES    I.  —  EXAMINATIONS    OF    BLOOD  AND   SECRETIONS   FROM   CATTLE  AFFECTED  WITH 

CONTAGIOUS    PLEURO  PNEUMONIA. 

A  cow,  four  years  old,  died  with  the  usual  symptoms  of  pleuropneumonia,  near  Wash 
ington,  on  the  10th  day  of  February,  1869.  Examination  was  made  twenty  minutes  after 
death.  The  lungs  were  stuffed  with  exudation,  and  the  pleural  cavity  contained  a  quantity 
of  turbid,  very  fetid  liquid,  which,  under  the  microscope,  appeared  full  of  actively  moving 
monads  and  bacteria.  No  communication  was  found  between  the  lung  and  the  pleural 
cavity,  but  it  is  not  positive  that  such  did  not  exist.  The  blood,  under  a  magnifying 
power  of  1,200  diameters,  presented  no  abnormal  appearance.  Vacuum  tubes  were  filled 
with  the  blood,  and  specimens  of  the  pleural  fluid  and  of  the  bile  were  also  preserved. 
The  latter  presented  no  unusual  appearance  under  the  microscope. 

Experiment  1,  February  10,  1869. — Three  six-ounce  isolation-flasks  were  prepared; 
an  ounce  of  Tourtelot's  extract  of  beef  placed  in  each,  boiled  five  minutes,  and  allowed 
to  cool  to  90°  Fahrenheit.  To  the  first  were  added  the  contents  of  one  of  the  vacuum 
tubes  from  the  cow  above  referred  to ;  to  the  second  that  of  a  tube  of  blood  from  a  healthy 
cow ;  to  the  third,  nothing.  The  flasks  were  then  placed  in  a  water  bath,  and  kept  at  a 
temperature  of  85°  Fahrenheit.  On  the  14th  of  February  the  flasks  were  opened.  N  .  1 
contained  large  numbers  of  motionless  bacteria,  single  and  in  pairs;  No.  2  contained 
a  very  few  of  the  same;  No  3  contained  none.  The  flasks  were  kept  one  week 
longer,  at  the  end  of  which  time  there  was  no  change  from  the  appearances  above  men 
tioned. 

Experiment  2,  February  10,  1869. — Six  watch-glasses  were  arranged  as  follows  : 
No.  1  contained  pulp  of  fresh  lemon  and  pleuropneumonic  blood;  No.  2  contained  pulp 
of  fresh  potato  and  pleuropneumonic  blood;  No.  3  contained  pulp  of  fresh  lernon  and 
healthy  blood;  No.  4  contained  pulp  of  fresh  potato  and  healthy  blood;  No.  5  contained 
pulp  of  fresh  lemon  alone;  No  6  contained  pulp  of  fresh  potato  alone.  All  the  watch- 
glasses  were  placed  in  a  culture  apparatus,  which  was  kept  at  80°  Fahrenheit  in  a  water 
bath.  February  14th  a  beautiful  growth  of  Aspergillus  glaucus  (Lk.)  and  Penicillium 
glaucum  (Fr.)  appeared  on  watch-glasses  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  5,  and  6— most  profusely  on  Nos.  1 
and  3.  Watch-glass  No.  4  contained  nothing. 

Experiment  3,  February  10,  1869. — Six  watch-glasses  were  arranged,  three  with  pulp 
of  lemon,  and  three  with  potato.  To  four  of  them  a  few  drops  of  the  pleural  liquid  were 
added.  They  were  placed  in  the  culture  apparatus,  and  in  four  days  aspergillus  and  peni- 
cillium  were  in  fruit  in  all. 

Experiment  4,  February  10,  1869. — This  was  a  duplicate  of  experiment  1,  with  the 
exception  that  bile  was  used  instead  of  blood.  At  the  end  of  ten  days'  careful  examina 
tion  failed  to  discover  any  organic  forms  in  either  of  the  flasks. 


EXPERIMENTS  WITH  CBYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS.  161 

Experiment  .5,  February  25,  1869. — One  of  the  vacuum  tubes  of  blood  from  the 
above-mentioned  cow,  and  a  tube  of  healthy  blood  which  had  been  put  up  at  the  same 
time,  were  opened  and  carefully  examined.  The  blood  in  each  was  coagulated,  free  from 
offensive  odor,  and  under  the  microscope  presented  no  unusual  appearance.  The  contents 
of  each  tube  were  placed  in  a  one-ounce  vial  with  a  slip  of  purified  blotting  paper,  the 
vials  sealed  and  kept  at  a  temperature  of  70°  Fahrenheit.  Ten  days  later  bacteria  and 
vibriones  were  present  in  each,  but  no  trace  of  mycelium  or  of  fungus  fructification. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  1869,  a  cow  in  the  last  stages  of  pleuropneumonia  was 
killed  near  Washington,  and  vacuum  tubes  were  filled  from  the  jugular  vein.  Tubes  were 
also  filled  with  the  serum  contained  in  bulloa  formed  by  the  false  membrane  lining  the 
bronchial  tubes. 

About  four  inches  of  each  jugular  vein  were  removed,  ligatures  having  been  first 
applied.  Eighteen  hours  afterward  the  blood  in  the  veins  from  which  the  tubes  had  been 
filled  was  carefully  examined  with  a  power  of  750  diameters.  It  was  coagulated,  and  the 
serum  contained  some  molecules,  single  or  in  chains  of  two  or  three,  which  were  motion 
less,  (see  plate,  fig.  1.)  Blood  from  one  of  the  vacuum  tubes  contained  no  such  bodies. 
The  lung  serum  contained  molecules  like  those  in  the  vein. 

Experiment  6,  February  26,  1869. — In  a  culture  apparatus  were  placed  three  watch- 
glasses  and  two  growing  slides,  arranged  as  follows:  The  growing  slides  and  watch-glass 
No.  1  contained  boiled  potato  and  diseased  blood;  watch-glass  No.  2  contained  boiled 
potato  and  healthy  blood ;  watch-glass  No.  3  contained  boiled  potato  and  lung  fluid.  Twenty- 
four  hours  later,  in  the  growing  slides  the  red  corpuscles  had  nearly  disappeared;  bacteria 
and  monads,  single  or  in  short  chains,  were  seen;  a  few  moving,  but  the  greater  part  at 
rest.  Seven  days  later  there  was  no  change ;  motionless  bacteria  and  monads  were  present 
in  all  the  glasses,  but  no  trace  of  mycelium  or  spores. 

Experiment  7,  February  26,  1869. — Seven  watch-glasses  and  five  growing  slides 
were  arranged  as  follows:  AVatch-glass  No.  1  contained  potato  boiled  in  distilled  water; 
watch-glass  No.  2  contained  lemon  boiled  in  distilled  water;  watch-glass  No.  3  contained 
lemon  boiled  with  diseased  blood;  watch-glass  No.  4  contained  diseased  blood  alone;  watch- 
glass  No.  5  contained  healthy  blood  alone ;  watch-glass  No.  6  contained  boiled  potato  with 
diseased  blood;  watch-glass  No.  7  contained  boiled  potato  with  healthy  blood;  growing 
slide  A  contained  boiled  lemon  with  diseased  blood;  growing  slide  B  contained  boiled 
lemon  with  healthy  blood;  growing  slide  0  contained  boiled  potato  with  diseased  blood; 
growing  slide  D  contained  boiled  potato  with  healthy  blood;  growing  slide  E  contained 
boiled  potato  alone.  These  were  placed  in  four  sets  of  culture  apparatus,  and  kept  at  a 
temperature  of  78°  Fahrenheit.  In  twenty-four  hours  a  few  small  cells  were  seen  in  slide 
B,  which  rapidly  developed  into  ordinary  yeast,  continuing  to  bud  and  increase  for  four 
days. .  The  fluids  in  watch-glasses  4  and  5  rapidly  putrefied,  and  were  filled  with  bacteria 
and  monads.  In  watch-glasses  1  and  2  and  growing  slide  E  no  change  had  occurred  in 
eight  days.  In  the  others  a  few  motionless  bacteria  appeared  on  the  second  day,  after 
which  there  was  no  change.  The  precautions  taken  in  this  experiment  to  exclude  extra 
neous  bodies  were  great,  embracing  every  point  which  could  be  thought  of  as  liable  to  lead 
to  error.  In  April  one  of  the  tubes  containing  lung  serum  from  this  cow  was  given  to  Mr. 
Reid,  residing  near  Washington,  and  with  its  contents  he  successfully  inoculated  several 
cattle,  producing  in  each  case  the  same  effects,  and,  judging  by  the  after  results,  conferring 
21 


162  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

the  same  immunity  against  the  disease  as  if  perfectly  fresh  virus  had  been  used.  The  jug 
ular  vein  from  this  cow,  which  had  not  been  opened,  was  suspended  in  a  glass  jar,  closed 
with  a  cork  dipped  in  paraffine.  This  was  kept  at  the  ordinary  temperature  of  the  room 
and  in  diffuse  daylight. 

June  3,  1869,  the  jar  was  opened  and  the  contents  examined.  The  serum  had 
drained  from  the  vein  and  collected  in  the  bottom  of  the  jar,  was  of  an  offensive  odor, 
and  contained  bacteria,  moving  and  at  rest.  No  trace  of  mold  on  the  outside  of  the  vein. 
The  contents  of  the  vein  showed  no  bacteria  or  molecular  forms. 

The  contents  of  the  vein  and  the  serum  which  had  drained  from  it  were  cultivated 
upon  various  substrata  and  in  the  several  forms  of  apparatus,  with  the  usual  results,  viz: 
luxuriant  development  of  cryptococcus  and  penicillium. 

On  the  3d  of  June,  1869,  three  months  after  it  had  been  put  up,  one  of  the  vacuum 
tubes  of  blood  from  this  animal  was  opened,  and  the  contents  carefully  examined.  They 
could  not  be  distinguished  from  freshly  coagulated  blood ;  the  corpuscles  were  perfectly 
normal,  and  there  was  no  trace  of  bacteria  or  micrococcus. 

This  blood  was  cultivated  on  growing  slides  and  in  the  beaker  isolation  apparatus — 
in  one  case  with  negative  results,  in  others  with  the  productions  of  the  usual  penicillium 
forms.  Healthy  blood  kept  for  the  same  time  and  treated  in  the  same  way  gave  the  same 
results. 

Other  experiments  were  made  with  the  pleuropneumonic  fluids  by  cultivating  them 
with  solutions  of  cane  and  grape  sugar,  which  will  be  referred  to  subsequently. 

The  general  conclusion  from  all  the  observations  and  experiments  we  have  made  is, 
that  in  the  contagious  pleuropneumonia  of  cattle  there  is  no  peculiar  fungus  germ  present 
in  the  blood  or  secretions,  and  that  the  theory  of  its  cryptogamic  origin  is  untenable. 

The  significance  of  the  appearance  of  bacteria,  monads,  penicillium,  etc.,  in  the  experi 
ments  above  given  will  be  hereafter  referred  to. 

SERIES  II. — EXAMINATIONS  OF  BLOOD   AND   SECRETIONS  FROM   CATTLE   AFFECTED    WITH 

THE    TEXAS    OR    SPLENIC    FEVER. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  1869,  two  four-year  old  steers  were  killed  at  Corpus  Christi, 
Texas,  and  vacuum  tubes  were  filled  by  Professor  Gamgee  with  the  blood,  urine,  and  bile. 
Professor  Gamgee's  notes  state  that  the  spleen  of  these  animals  weighed  respectively  three 
and  a  half  and  three  and  three-quarters  pounds ;  the  livers  were  fatty ;  the  true  stomachs 
presented  erosions,  and  there  were  punctiform  ecchymoses  in  the  pelvis  of  the  kidneys  and 
in  the  bladder. 

The  blood  and  secretions  were  examined  microscopically  by  Professor  Gamgee,  imme 
diately  after  the  death  of  the  animal,  with  a  power  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  diameters, 
but  nothing  unusual  was  discovered. 

On  the  25th  of  May  one  of  the  blood  tubes  was  opened,  and  the  contents  examined 
with  a  power  of  eight  hundred  diameters. 

The  blood  was  dark,  firmly  coagulated,  and  without  offensive  odor.  No  white  cor 
puscles  were  seen;  the  red  corpuscles  were  mostly  normal,  a  few  being  crenated  or  trian 
gular.  Patches  of  granular  matter,  a  few  motionless  bacteria,  and  molecules,  single  or  in 
chains  of  two  or  three,  having  a  vibrating,  swarming  motion,  were  observed. 


EXPERIMENTS  WITH  CEYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS.  163 

In  short,  all  the  appearances  were  those  usually  presented  by  blood  when  the  white 
corpuscles  have  disintegrated  and  it  is  in  the  incipient  stage  of  putrefaction.  But  besides 
these  there  were  present  yellow  globular  bodies,  smaller  than  the  red  blood  corpuscles, 
mostly  united  by  twos  and  threes,  though  in  some  cases  four  or  six  were  strung  together, 
and  presented  the  general  characteristics  of  minute  spores.  Ether,  liquor  potassac,  and 
sulphuric  acid  had  no  particular  effect  on  them.  (See  plate,  fig.  11.) 

In  two  of  the  tubes  from  the  same  cattle,  opened  one  month  later,  the  contents  were 
putrefying,  and  micrococcus  and  bacteria  were  abundant. 

On  the  29th  of  May  vacuum  tubes  of  blood  and  secretions  from  two  yearling  steers, 
killed  at  Houston,  Texas,  May  18,  1869,  were  received  and  examined.  These  animals 
presented  the  usual  lesions — enlarged  spleens,  erosions  of  the  stomach,  &c. 

The  blood  from  these  tubes  was  in  an  advanced  stage  of  putrefaction,  and  filled  with 
bacteria  and  micrococcus. 

The  bile  from  the  four-year-old  steers  was  normal  in  appearance ;  that  from  the  one- 
year-old  animals  was  very  dark  and  tenacious.  Micrococcus  was  found  in  each,  but  not 
abundant.  In  each  there  were  found  moving  rods,  (bacteria?)  which  were  somewhat 
peculiar,  one  end  being  bent,  forming  a  little  knob  or  hook.  (See  plate,  fig.  12.) 
They  were  of  an  orange  color,  probably  owing  to  imbibition  of  biliary  coloring  matter. 

The  urine  in  each  set  of  tubes  was  found  to  contain  micrococcus,  bacteria,  and  cryp- 
tococcus. 

Experiment  1. — Blood  from  the  first  series  of  tubes  was  placed  in  a  De  Bary's  grow 
ing  slide,  on  blotting-paper,  in  a  beaker  isolation  apparatus,  and  in  a  watch  glass  under  a 
culture  apparatus,  with  a  few  drops  of  freshly-boiled  solution  of  sugar.  In  the  growing 
slide  cryptococcus  forms  were  observed  in  thirty-six  hours;  in  twelve  hours  more,  delicate 
mycelium  filaments  appeared,  and  on  the  fourth  day  the  usual  fructification  of  Penicillium 
erustaceum  was  seen  in  the  air  space  in  the  slide.  The  isolation  apparatus  was  opened  on 
the  fifth  day,  and  penicillium  found  on  the  blotting-paper.  In  the  watch-glass  crypto 
coccus  was  developed  on  the  second  day;  two  days  later  this  was  very  abundant,  and  of 
various  sizes  and  forms,  including  C.  guttulalus  of  Ch.  Robin. 

Four  clays  later  mycelial  filaments,  with  dilatations  of  various  forms  and  sizes, 
(Schizosporangia  of  Hallier,)  covered  the  surface  of  the  blood.  (See  plate,  fig.  13.) 
One  month  later  careful  examination  showed  nothing  but  penicillium.  . 

Experiment  2. — The  precautions  taken  in  this  case  were  very  great,  and  were  as 
•  follows:  The  beakers,  culture  apparatus,  watch-glasses,  slides,  blotting-paper,  and  thread 
were  treated  with  dilute  nitric  acid,  then  with  liquor  potassas,  and  finally  rinsed  with 
hot,  freshly-distilled  water.  The  knife,  glass  rod,  and  file  used  were  cleansed  in  hot 
alcohol  just  before  being  used.  The  vacuum  tubes  were  cleansed  with  liquor  potassse 
and  alcohol  just  before  being  opened.  The  sheet-rubber  was  thoroughly  washed  with  the 
same  fluids. 

To  prepare  the  beaker  isolation  apparatus,  after  the  articles  used  had  been  treated  as 
above,  the  cover  with  blotting-paper  was  placed  on  the  beaker,  strong  alcohol  having  been 
first  poured  in,  and  then  it  was  thoroughly  shaken.  The  alcohol  was  then  removed  by 
similar  treatment  with  fresh  distilled  water.  The  apparatus  was  then  taken  to  a  room  in 
which  no  experiments  had  been  made,  and  the  fluids  added  to  the  blotting-paper.  During 
this  operation  the  interior  of  the  apparatus  was  exposed  for  about  one  minute. 


164  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

Blood  from  four-year-old  steer  (first  set  of  vacuum  tubes)  was  placed  in  a  De  Bary's 
growing  slide,  in  a  watch-glass  with  pulp  of  lemon,  same  with  pulp  of  orange;  also  in 
beaker  isolation  apparatus  on  lemon  and  orange. 

Blood  from  one-year-old  steer  (second  set  of  vacuum  tubes)  was  arranged  in  the 
same  manner. 

And,  lastly,  a  similar  series  of  apparatus  was  arranged  with  lemon  and  orange  with 
out  blood. 

The  growing  slides  and  watch  glasses  were  examined  daily,  with  powers  ranging  from 
200  to  1,000  diameters. 

At  the  end  of  five  days  the  isolation  beakers  were  opened.  The  phenomena  in  all, 
with  one  exception,  were  the  same.  Penicilliwn  crustaceum  (Fr.)  was  developed  in  all, 
more  slowly  and  less  luxuriantly  where  no  blood  had  been  added.  The  exception  referred 
to  above  was  in  the  watch-glass  to  which  the  putrescent  blood  from  the  one-year-old  steer 
was  added;  in  this  there  was  a  luxuriant  growth  of  Mucor  raccmosus,  (Fres.,)  and  also 
coremium,  a  luxuriant  and  fasciculated  form  of  penicillium. 

It  is  considered  needless  to  give  the  details  of  all  the  culture  experiments  undertaken 
with  this  blood;  suffice  it  to  say  that  it  was  placed  on  various  substrata  and  compared 
with  healthy  blood,  and  the  results  were  in  all  cases  the  same,  that  is,  production  of  peni 
cillium,  coremium,  and  mucor. 

In  cultures  undertaken  with  the  urine,  either  no  result  was  obtained  or  the  usual  peni 
cillium  made  its  appearance. 

Culture  of  the  bile  upon  lemon  gave  the  same  results,  but  the  penicillium  growth  was 
much  less  than  when  the  blood  was  used.  Disk-like  masses  of  mycelium,  (the  Sclerotia 
of  Hallier.)  usually  bright  yellow  in  color,  were  produced  alike  with  diseased  and  healthy 
blood. 

To  judge,  therefore,  from  the  specimens  that  we  have  had  the  opportunity  of  exam 
ining,  it  would  appear  that  in  the  blood,  bile,  and  urine  of  cattle  slaughtered  in  Texas, 
apparently  healthy  while  alive,  but  presenting  after  death  the  appearances  considered  char 
acteristic  of  the  splenic  fever,  there  are  present  minute  bodies  corresponding  to  the  micro- 
coccus  of  Hallier,  which  exhibit  the  same  behavior  with  reagents  as  the  spores  of  fungi. 

In  the  bile  and  urine  bacteria  and  cryptococcus  cells  also  occur.  The  micrococcus 
granules,  however,  have  no  specific  characteristics,  and  cannot  be  distinguished,from  simi 
lar  bodies  which  are  to  be  seen  in  any  blood  in  an  incipient  stage  of  putrefaction.  Thus, 
on  the  4th  of  June,  vacuum  tubes  were  filled  with  blood  from  a  healthy  sheep  slaughtered 
near  Washington,  and  this  blood,  examined  sixty  hours  afterward,  contained  in  equal 
abundance  these  same  bodies  (micrococcus)  that  were  found  in  the  blood  of  the  Texas 
cattle.  The  attempt  to  give  these  micrococcus  molecules  a  special  and  important  charac 
ter  by  the  "cultivation"  in  various  ways  of  the  blood  containing  them,  also  failed.  In  all 
cases  the  fungous  growth  that  appeared  upon  the  cultivated  material  was  composed  of  the 
commonest  molds,  and,  instead  of  being  unique  as  to  species  or  even  genus,  comprised 
various  forms  and  sizes  of  cryptococcus,  torula,  penicillium,  coremium,  mucor,  and  the 
so-called  schizosporangia  of  Hallier,  of  all  forms  and  sizes;  these  various  fungi  being 
either  simultaneously  or  successively  developed.  Moreover,  all  these  varieties  of  fungi 
can  be  also  developed  by  a  similar  cultivation  of  healthy  blood,  though  not  so  rapidly  nor 
in  so  great  luxuriance. 


EXPERIMENTS  WITH  CRYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS.  165 

The  fact  that  in  our  cultivations  we  never  obtained  any  growths  of  ustilago,  coniothe- 
cium,  or  tilletia,  which  were  so  frequently  produced  in  Hallier's  experiments,  is  probably 
due  to  the  circumstance  that  no  specimens  of  those  fungi  were  ever  brought  into  the  room 
where  our  experiments  were  conducted. 

In  cases  of  splenic  fever  of  cattle  our  experiments,  therefore,  fail  to  establish  the 
presence  of  any  peculiar  or  special  cryptogamic  germs  in  the  blood;  and,  instead  of  sup 
porting  the  notion  that  the  micrococcus  granules  which  are  present  in  any  way  cause  the 
disease,  tend  rather  to  show  that  their  occurrence  should  be  considered  as  an  effect  of  the 
malady,  whether  constant  and  inherent,  or  altogether  fortuitous;  for  since  these  granules, 
if  fungous  in  their  nature,  must  be,  as  indicated  by  the  cultivations,  forms  of  the  very  com 
monest  moulds,  it  is  certainly  a  much  more  probable  hypothesis  that  the  disease  so  destroys 
the  vitality  of  a  part  of  the  blood  as  to  render  it  capable  of  supporting  and  nourishing  a 
low  form  of  these  ubiquitous  fungi,  which  perish  when  introduced  into  a  healthy  subject, 
than  it  is  to  imagine  a  deadly  disease,  occurring  only  under  certain  rigidly  prescribed  con 
ditions,  as  caused  by  the  presence,  in  the  economy  of  the  germs,  of  fungi  notoriously  harm 
less  and  of  universal  occurrence. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  that  these  fungi,  developed  in  the  fluids  of  a  diseased  animal, 
may  become  the  carriers  of  contagium.  This  can  be  determined  only  by  a  series  of  inocu 
lations  upon  healthy  cattle. 

While  the  experiments  reported  above  were  still  in  progress,  we  were  fortunate 
enough  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the  Transactions  of  the  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society 
for  1867,  containing  the  "Report  of  the  New  York  State  Cattle  Commissioners,"  in  con 
nection  with  the  "  Special  report  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Health  on  the  cattle  disease." 
This  report  we  read  with  interest. 

The  conclusions  of  Professor  Hallier  we  do  not  accept,  for  three  reasons :  First,  because 
the  fluids  sent  to  him  were  not  put  up  with  the  proper  precautions  for  exclusion  of  extra 
neous  spores;  second,  because  the  culture  apparatus  used  by  him  does  not  give  reliable 
results,  as  we  have  found  by  experiment;  and  lastly,  because  his  reasoning  is  based  on  a 
peculiar  theory  of  his  own,  that  penicillium,  mucor,  &c.,  are  merely  unripe  forms  of  certain 
ustilagineous  fungi,  a  theory  which  cannot  be  discussed  here,  but  of  which  it  is  sufficient 
to  say  that  it  has  been  accepted  by  no  other  prominent  mycologist. 

The  statement  of  Dr.  Stiles,  that  "the  fungous  origin  of  zymotic  diseases  is  now  con 
ceded  by  the  highest  authorities  in  mycological  research,"  will  no  doubt  surprise  the  said 
authorities;  for  Berkeley,  Curtis,  and  De  Bary,  the  highest  authorities  in  England,  Amer 
ica,  and  Germany,  most  assuredly  concede  nothing  of  the  kind. 

With  a  culture  apparatus,  a  lemon,  and  a  little  albuminous  fluid,  such  as  blood,  serum, 
white  of  egg,  &c.,  it  is  very  easy  to  obtain  almost  any  kind  of  mold;  but  the  laws  of  de 
velopment  of  such  organisms  are  not  yet  sufficiently  known  to  enable  one  to  draw  decisive 
inferences  from  the  results. 

With  regard  to  the  magnifying  power  necessary  for  the  examination  of  minute  cryp 
togamic  forms,  it  has  usually  been  overrated.  A  good  one-fifth  objective  is  all  that  is 
necessary,  and  in  making  observations  on  growing  slides  is  the  highest  power  that  can  be 
conveniently  used.  We  have,  it  is  true,  used  much  higher  powers,  but  do  not  consider 
them  necessary,  or  even  desirable,  in  microscopic  investigations  of  this  character. 


166  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

REMARKS. 

In  a  general  way  it  may  be  stated  that  all  abnormal  appearances  observed  in  the 
fluids  examined  were  such  as  might  be  attributed  to  putrefaction.  Although  much  re 
mains  to  be  learned  as  to  the  causes  and  nature  of  this  process,  the  tendency  of  modern 
science  is  to  class  it  as  a  species  of  fermentation,  which  may  be  denned  as  a  particular  mode 
of  decomposition  of  organized  bodies,  accompanied  by  the  growth  of  cells  of  a  fungoid  char 
acter,  supposed  to  be  the  active  agents  in  the  process. 

In  fluids  undergoing  the  alcoholic,  the  acetic,  lactic,  or  butyric  acid  fermentations,  in 
wine  affected  with  the  bitter  fermentation,  or  in  a  solution  of  tannic  acid  changing  to 
gallic  acid,  we  find  minute  cells,  in  German  called  "  Hefe,"  in  French  "mycoderms,"  in 
English  "yeast."  Although  the  cells  of  ordinary  yeast  and  those  of  the  Mycoderma  vim, 
aceti,  or  lactis,  differ  in  shape  and  size,  it  is  supposed  that  these  variations  are  due  to  the 
character  of  the  fluids  by  which  they  are  nourished,  and  that  they  are  all  really  derived 
from  the  same  source,  namely,  the  ordinary  molds.  Common  brewers'  yeast  (Oryptococ- 
cus  cerevisii)  is  now  thought  to  be  not  a  distinct  species  of  plant,  but  merely  a  stage  of 
development  of  several  different  -genera  of  fungi,  such  as  penicillium,  aspergillus,  mucor, 
and  perhaps  several  others.  And  the  same  is  probably  true  of  the  other  mycoderms. 

When  organic  substances  rich  in  nitrogen  decompose,  the  action  is  termed  putrefac 
tion;  and  in  all  such,  when  examined  with  a  sufficiently  high  magnifying  power,  there  will 
be  found  little  molecules,  either  single  or  in  chains  of  from  two  to  six,  and  minute  color 
less  rods,  single  or  in  chains  of  two  or  three,  straight  or  spirally  twisted,  rigid  or  flexible. 
All  of  these  may  be  at  rest  or  in  motion;  if  the  latter,  it  may  be  a  vibrating,  trembling 
motion,  without  change  of  place,  or  a  direct  propulsion  through  the  fluid.  These  minute 
organisms  have  been  successively  considered  as  animals,  as  alga?  or  water  plants,  and  as 
fungi.  The  globular  molecules  are  termed  monads,  and  more  recently  micrococcus.  The 
rods  have  received  many  names,  but  are  usually  known  as  bacteria.  The  tendency  of 
investigators  of  this  subject  is  to  consider  these  monads  and  bacteria  as  the  mycoderms  of 
the  putrefactive  fermentation,  and  to  suppose  that  they  also  are  but  one  form  of  develop 
ment  of  penicillium  and  other  common  molds.  Mrs.  J.  Luders  asserts  that  she  has  seen 
the  bacteria  emerge  from  spores  of  penicillium  placed  in  meat  juice,  and  the  production 
of  yeast  by  adding  putrefying  fluids  to  saccharine  solutions  has  been  repeatedly  accom 
plished. 

We  have  performed  some  experiments  on  this  subject  which  may  perhaps  be  of 
interest. 

Our  aim  was  to  develop  in  a  saccharine  solution  an  unmistakable  yeast  cell,  with  its 
attendant  special  form  of  fermentation,  from  a  vibrio  or  bacterium  contained  in  a  putrefy 
ing  fluid;  and  the  practical  problem  was  to  devise  some  means  whereby  the  putrid  fluid 
might  be  added  to  the  sugar  solution,  without  at  the  same  time  any  yeast  cells,  which  it 
might  accidentally  contain,  also  passing  into  the  solution  and  so  vitiating  the  result.  To 
accomplish  this  end  we  availed  ourselves  of  the  different  behavior  of  yeast  cells  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  various  cryptogamic  organisms  of  putrid  fluids  on  the  other,  in  respect 
to  their  ability  to  pass  through  certain  tissues.  Now,  bacteria,  vibriones,  and  molecules, 
cither  single  or  in  chains,  (Monas,  Microzymas,  Micrococcus,  Lcptothrix,  Zooglca,  and 
Schizomycetes,  of  various  authors,)  will  readily  pass  through  thoroughly  moistened  filtering 


EXPERIMENTS  WITH  CRYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS. 


167 


paper;  while,  as  originally  shown  by  Mitzscherlich,  (Pogg.  Annal.,  1855,  p.  224,)  and 
again  proved  by  the  following  experiments,  yeast  cells  will  not.  Furthermore,  none  of  the 
above-mentioned  bodies  will  pass  through  vegetable  parchment,  although  fluids  will.  If, 
then,  upon  adding  a  putrefying  fluid  to  a  saccharine  solution,  through  the  intervention  of 
filtering  paper,  we  produce  yeast  and  fermentation  in  that  solution,  while  upon  making  the 
addition  through  vegetable  parchment  we  produce  none,  the  method  of  the  experiment 
leaves  no  doubt  that  the  yeast  must  have  been  developed  from  cryptogamic  germs  other 
than  yeast  contained  in  the  putrid  matter.  To  carry  out  this  plan  of  experiment,  the  fol 
lowing  apparatus  was  used: 

In  a  four  or  six-ounce  glass  beaker  (not  lipped)  was  placed  a  tube,  made  by  cutting 
off  the  bottom  of  a  common  test  tube,  three-fourths  inch  in  diameter,  and 
as  high  as  the  beaker.  This  tube  was  open  at  the  top,  but  closed  at  the 
bottom  by  two  layers  of  fine,  strong  filtering  paper  tied  tightly  over  the 
flaring  end  with  waxed  string,  and  rested  on  a  fragment  of  glass  rod  placed 
in  the  beaker;  all  these  articles  having  been  carefully  washed,  were  put 
together  as  described,  and  about  two  ounces  of  hot  strong  alcohol  were 
poured  into  both  the  tube  and  beaker.  A  piece  of  thin  sheet-rubber  was 
next  tied  over  the  top,  hermetically  closing  both  beaker  and  tube,  and  the 
whole  apparatus,  having  been  thoroughly  shaken,  so  that  the  hot  liquid 
should  come  fully  in  contact  with  every  part,  was  then  set  aside  to  cool 
until  wanted. 

The  solution  to  be  experimented  on,  which  had  been  boiled,  filtered,  and  then  re- 
boiled  in  a  flask  fitted  up  as  an  isolation  apparatus,  was  in  the  mean  time  cooling  in  that 
vessel.  When  this  had  cooled  to  about  85°,  the  alcohol  was  removed  from  the  apparatus 
and  the  tube  was  rinsed  with  a  little  freshly-distilled  water.  Then  one  to  two  ounces  of 
the  solution  to  be  experimented  on  was  placed  in  the  beaker,  while  a  little  of  the  putre 
fying  or  fermenting  fluid  was  put  in  the  inner  tube.  The  sheet-rubber  was  finally  stretched 
tightly  over  all  and  tied  as  before,  and  the  apparatus  was  then  kept  at  a  temperature  of 
75°  Fahrenheit  to  85°  Fahrenheit  in  diffused  daylight,  (see  plate,  fig.  4.) 

The  solutions  used  were  of  cane  or  grape  sugar,  mixed  with  extract  of  beef,  or  with 
tartrate  of  ammonia  and  ashes  of  yeast. 

The  following  formulae  gave  the  best  results : 

A. 

Cane  sugar 10  parts. 

Tourtelot's  extract  of  beef 10  parts. 

Water 100  parts. 

B. 

Cane  sugar -  -  -  1°  Parts- 

Tartrate  of  ammonia 5  parts. 

Ashes  of  yeast • 5  parts. 

Water 80  parts. 


168  DEPARTMENT  OP  AGRICULTURE. 

Experiment  1. — On  the  24th  of  March,  1869,  solution  A  was  placed  in  five  beakers, 
the  tubes  of  which  were  closed  with  paper.  In  the  tube  of  No.  1  was  put  a  teaspoonful 
of  fresh  yeast;  in  those  of  Nos.  2  and  3  some  putrefying  fluid  from  lung  of  a  pleuropncu- 
monic  cow;  in  No.  4  was  placed  a  fluid  containing  large  and  lively  bacteria  taken  from  a 
can  of  preserved  roast  meat  which  had  spoiled;  to  No.  5  nothing  was  added.  Two  ounces 
of  the  solution  were  also  retained  in  the  flask  which  had  remained  uncorked  for  fifteen 
minutes. 

In  twenty-four  hours  the  rubber  cover  of  No.  1  was  distended,  presenting  a  well- 
marked  convexity.  Bubbles  of  gas  were  rising  in  the  tube,  but  none  in  the  beaker.  The 
covers  of  Nos.  2,  3,  and  4  were  slightly  distended,  and  a  few  bubbles  appeared  on  the  out 
side  of  the  tubes.  No.  5  was  unchanged. 

In  forty-eight  hours  the  covers  of  the  first  four  beakers  were  strongly  distended,  show 
ing  that  the  closure  was  perfect,  (an  important  point.) 

In  No.  1  the  bubbles  were  still  confined  to  the  inside  of  the  tube,  while  in  Nos.  2,  3, 
and  4  they  were  chiefly  on  the  outside  of  the  tubes.  No.  2  was  now  opened.  The  fluid 
in  the  beaker  was  turbid,  filled  with  molecules,  chains  of  granules,  and  bacteria.  It  also 
contained  well-marked  yeast  cells,  separate,  and  just  beginning  to  bud. 

The  next  day,  March  27,  beakers  1,  3,  and  4  were  opened.  In  No.  1  the  yeast  was 
confined  to  the  tube,  in  which  it  was  in  full  growth.  Not  one  yeast  cell  could  be  found 
in  the  outer  fluid. 

In  Nos.  3  and  4  there  was  abundant  growth  of  yeast  in  the  beakers;  greatest  in  No. 
4.  In  No.  5  there  was  no  change,  nor  has  any  occurred  at  this  date. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  beakers  were  arranged  a  series  of  growing  slides  was  pre 
pared  and  charged  with  the  same  fluids.  The  changes  in  these  corresponded  precisely 
with  those  in  the  beakers,  except  that  they  were  more  slow. 

Experiment  2.- — Two  beakers  were  arranged  with  solution  A.  The  tube  of  No.  1 
wras  closed  with  vegetable  parchment,  that  of  No.  2  with  filtering  paper.  Putrefying 
fluid  from  the  lung  of  a^leuropneumonic  cow  was  placed  in  the  tubes,  care  being  taken  in 
No.  1  that  this  fluid  should  stand  at  the  same  height  as  the  solution  of  sugar  in  the 
beaker. 

In  twenty-four  hours  decided  osmose  from  the  tube  to  the  beaker  had  occurred 
in  No.  1,  and  the  rubber  cover  was  concave.  In  forty-eight  hours  the  cover  was  still 
concave,  and  the  fluid  in  the  tube  was  three-fourths  of  an  inch  lower  than  in  the 
beaker.  In  beaker  No.  2  the  cover  was  distended,  and  yeast  was  evidently  in  active 
development. 

Four  days  later  the  beakers  were  opened.  The  cover  of  No.  1  was  now  very  slightly 
convex ;  yeast  cells  were  found  in  the  tube,  but  none  in  the  beaker,  although  the  latter 
contained  molecules  or  micrococcus.  In  No.  2  the  cover  was  now  concave,  owing  to 
fructification  of  penicillium  within  the  tube.  Yeast  cells  were  found  abundant  in  the 
beaker. 

Experiment  3. — Eight  beakers  were  arranged  with  solution  B,  the  tubes  being  adjusted 
as  follows: 

Nos.  1  and  2,  closed  with  filtering  paper;  contents,  putrefying  roast  beef.  Nos.  3 
and  4  closed  with  filtering  paper;  contents,  blood  of  pleuropneumonic  cow.  No.  5,  closed 


EXPERIMENTS  WITH  CEYPTOGAMIC  GROWTHS.  169 

with  filtering  paper;  contents,  fresh  yeast.  Xo.  6,  closed  with  vegetable  parchment;  con 
tents,  fluid  as  in  Nos.  1  and  2.  Xo.  7,  closed  with  vegetable  parchment;  contents,  fluid 
as  in  Xos.  3  and  4.  Xo.  8,  closed  with  vegetable  parchment;  contents,  nothing  added. 

To  each  beaker,  except  6  and  7,  two  growing  slides  were  prepared  with  the  same 
fluids.  April  14  the  beakers  were  opened.  Xos.  1,  2,  3,  and  4  contained  abundance  of 
yeast,  and  the  covers  were  strongly  convex.  Xos.  5,  G,  and  7  contained  yeast  cells  in  the 
tube,  but  none  in  the  beaker;  the  yeast  in  Xo.  6  was  very  scanty.  Xo.  8  remained  un 
changed.  The  growing  slides  were  watched  from  day  to  day.  Yeast  cells  appeared  in 
those  corresponding  to  beakers  1  and  2  in  forty-eight  hours;  in  those  corresponding  to  3 
and  4,  one  day  later.  They  appeared  in  those  corresponding  to  beaker  Xo.  8  on  the  sixth 
day,  but  none  had  appeared  in  the  beaker  on  the  tenth  day. 

A  number  of  other  experiments  were  made  on  this  subject,  the  results  of  the  ma 
jority  of  which  were  in  accordance  with  those  above  given.  Several  times  the  conclusions 
were  vitiated  from  the  fact  that  yeast  developed  in  the  sugar  solution  when  nothing  was 
added. 

It  seems  probable,  in  view  of  the  results  of  the  preceding  experiments,  that  some  of 
the  bacteria  and  micrococcus  germs  are  really  fungoid  in  character  and  capable  of  develop 
ment  into  higher  forms. 

It  is  unlikely  that till  the  minute  organisms  above  referred  to  are  of  the  same  charac 
ter,  but  any  attempt  at  classification  of  them  is  of  very  doubtful  utility.  If  it  is  ever 
successfully  clone  it  will  probably  be  by  the  application  of  chemical  tests.  We  may 
mention  that  a  solution  of  sulphate  of  quinine  stops  the  motion  of  bacteria  very  quickly, 
while  strychnine  has  no  particular  effect;  and,  again,  in  a  solution  of  pure  carbolic  acid, 
two  grains  to  the  ounce,  we  have  seen  them  quite  lively  twenty-four  hours  after  they  had 
been  placed  in  it. 

We  do  not  suppose  the  above  will  hold  good  for  all  bacteria;  indeed,  we  have 
seen  some  that  were  rendered  motionless  almost  instantaneously  by  solution  of  carbolic 
acid. 

If  the  foregoing  view  of  the  nature  of  these  bodies  be  accepted  as  probable,  the 
results  of  the  culture  experiments  with  the  fluids  of  diseased  and  healthy  animals  can  be 
readily  understood.  In  many  animals,  whether  healthy  or  diseased,  there  arc  no  fungous 
germs  in  the  blood.  We  have  kept  vacuum  tubes  of  blood  for  four  months,  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time  the  contents  were  perfectly  normal.  In  other  animals  there  are  probably 
germs  in  the  blood  during  life,  as  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  vacuum  tubes  filled  from  them 
the  blood  putrefied  and  the  usual  mycoderms  developed ;  but  that  these  germs  can  develop 
and  multiply  without  dead  organic  material  as  a  pabulum  is  very  doubtful. 

The  fungi  which  are  developed  from  blood  containing  these  gerrns  arc,  as  might  be 
expected,  the  common  molds,  the  spores  of  which  are  almost  ubiquitous — most  frequently 
penicillium,  next  mucor,  next  aspergillus. 

Other  forms  may  appear,  and  those  above  mentioned  may  vary  greatly  in  size,  color, 
and  rapidity  of  development. 

As  was  stated  in  the  beginning,  our  object  was  to  determine  the  presence,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  nature  of  these  germs.     The  query  as  to  the  connection  between  them  and 
disease,  whether  they  should  be  considered  as  specific  causes  of  the  disease,  or  as  carriers 
22 


]  70  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

of  contagium,  or  as  the  signs  of  destruction  of  vitality  of  a  part  of  the  fluids  or  tissues  in 
which  they  are  found,  the  destruction  being  due  to  some  other  cause,  is  one  of  great 
interest,  but  for  the  answering  of  which  the  "lancet  and  injection  tube"  will  probably  be 
far  more  efficacious  than  the  microscope  and  "culture  apparatus." 

J.  S.  BILLINGS, 
Bvt.  Lt.  Col.  and  Asst.  /Surg.  U.  S.  Army. 

EDWARD  CURTIS, 
Bvt.  Maj.  and  Asst.  Surg.    U.  S.  Army. 
Hon.  HORACE  CAPEON, 

Commissioner  of  Agriculture. 


ft?, 

fi'tf..    T?      ,V     ' 


;    ; 


V 


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lC 


1  / 


REPORT  ON  THE  FUNGI  OF  TEXAS. 


SIR  :  In  accordance  with  an  invitation  to  accompany  Professor  Gamgee  to  Texas,  and 
to  make  an  examination  of  the  botany  of  the  country  where  he  investigated  the  cattle 
disease,  and  especially  to  direct  attention  to  the  lower  cryptogamic  flora,  the  fungi,  and 
algse,  and  also  to  examine  the  grasses  and  other  plants  furnishing  food  for  cattle,  I  reached 
Galveston  on  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  March,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  Houston  to 
join  Professor  Gamgee. 

After  making  a  cursory  examination  into  the  pastures  of  the  neighborhood  of  Hous 
ton,  I  accepted  an  invitation  from  Colonel  Ashbel  Smith  to  visit  his  farm  at  Galveston 
Bay,  Harris  County,  and  reached  that  place  on  the  30th.  Here  I  had  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  a  variety  of  soils,  prairie  as  well  as  heavily-timbered  land,  the  latter  rather  rare  in 
this  part  of  Texas.  Colonel  Smith  offered  me  ample  facilities  for  investigation,  and,  from 
his  long  residence  in  the  country  and  extensive  information,  I  was  enabled  to  derive  much 
benefit.  I  spent  five  days  at  this  place,  and  made  large  collections  of  fungi  and  some  few 
grasses.  I  made  an  examination  also  of  hay  which  had  been  cut  last  summer  and  stacked 
in  the  fields.  It  was  perfectly  sound,  and  of  bright  and  healthy  color,  without  any  indi 
cation  of  moldiness  or  parasitic  growth.  The  hay  was  cut  from  a  body  of  prairie  land, 
inclosed  by  a  fence,  a  portion  of  which  had  been  burnt  off  for  the  purpose.  The  remain 
ing  portion,  in  the  old  dried  grasses  of  the  last  season,  presented  no  difference  in  appearance 
from  dried  grasses  in  similar  situations  ;  nothing  to  indicate  any  increased  growth  of  para 
sitic  fungi,  or  of  having  suffered  from  that  cause.  Colonel  Smith  was  good  enough  to 
furnish  me  with  notes  of  his  place,  which  I  append,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  quality  and 
situation  of  his  lands: 

The  Evergreen  estate  is  situated  in  29°  42'  north  latitude,  at  the  head  of  Galveston  Bay,  within  the  de- 
houchure  of  the  united  waters  of  Buffalo  Bayou  and  the  Sail  Jaciuto  River,  over  Chopper's  Bar,  and  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river.  It  is  washed  in  its  rear  by  the  Cedar  Bayou,  which  empties  into  Galveston  Bay  some  two  miles  lower  down. 
This  bayou  is  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  deep.  There  is  scarcely  any  swamp  or  bottom,  properly  so  called.  The 
geological  formation  is  alluvial.  The  soil  on  the  San  Jaciuto  or  bay  side  is  chiefly  a  sandy  loam  ;  that  at  the  Cedar 
Bayou  is  a  very  black,  stiff  soil,  and  commonly  known  in  this  State  as  "  hog  wallow,"  from  numerous  depressions  of  the 
surface  as  if  made  by  the  wallowing  of  hogs.  The  estate  comprises  about  four  thousand  acres,  pretty  equally  divided 
in  quantity  into  prairie  and  heavily-timbered  land.  Oak  and  cedar  are  the  prevailing  timber.  There  are  also  pines, 
hackberry,  pecan,  elm,  ash,  plum,  persimmon,  &c.  There  are  four  species  of  grapes  at  least.  The  mustang  and  mus 
cadine  abound  in  immense  quantities.  Both  these  vines,  which  are  heavy  bearers,  make  an  excellent  wine.  The 
grasses  are  numerous ;  those  growing  spontaneously  on  the  black  lands,  when  protected  from  the  feeding  of  animals  by 
inclosnre,  make  an  excellent  hay.  The  adjacent  waters  modify  the  temperature  of  the  air  most  sensibly,  both  in  sum 
mer  and  winter.  The  winter  cold  is  about  five  degrees  milder  than  that  of  Houston,  as  shown  by  a  comparison  of 
thermometers.  The  fields,  when  cultivated  in  corn,  cotton,  and  sugar-cane,  as  before  the  war,  yield  abundantly. 

After  my  return  to  Houston  I  went  into  the  country,  about  three  miles  from  the 
town,  to  a  farm-house  on  the  Buffalo  Bayou,  where  I  employed  about  two  weeks  in  exam 
ining  the  pastures  and  grasses  and  making  collections  of  Fungi  and  other  Cryptogams. 
The  wooded  growth  along  the  banks  of  the  bayou — consisting  of  Magnolia,  Laurus,  Ilex, 
Ungnadia  or  Spanish  buckeye,  Pecan,  Tilia,  &c.,  affords  a  fine  field  for  the  Fungi,  and  at 
this  place  I  collected  about  two  hundred  distinct  species.  The  pastures  were  quite  green, 
but  the  grass  was  still  young  and  scarcely  sufficiently  grown  to  be  identified.  I  collected 
here  all  that  were  in  flower  and  could  be  distinguished.  My  attention  was  directed  to  their 


172  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

examination  especially  to  ascertain  the  presence  of  the  lower  entophytal  forms  of  Fungi  or 
Algol.  I  found  them  remarkably  free  of  such  parasites,  as  I  expected  from  the  early  period 
of  the  year,  (the  Uredos,  Ustilagos,  Puccinias,  Tilletias,  and  other  entophytes  most  generally 
appearing  later  in  the  season,)  with  the  exception  of  a  few  species,  and  they  not  in 
any  abundance;  and  a  Helmmthosporium  which  infests  the  same  grass  (Sporobolus  indicus) 
here  in  the  Southern  Atlantic  States.  I  found  no  fungus  on  the  grasses  or  other  cattle 
food  to  attract  my  notice.  This  place,  (Dr.  Perl's  beef  packery,)  on  the  Buffalo  Bayou, 
and  Colonel  Smith's  farm,  arc  both  in  Harris  County.  "With  very  few  exceptions,  my 
entire  collection  of  Fungi,  amounting  to  nearly  three  hundred  species,  was  made  at  these 
two  places;  and  it  was  also  here  that  Professor  Gamgee  had  the  opportunity  of  examining 
some  twenty-five  or  thirty  cattle,  collected  from  the  neighboring  pastures  and  slaughtered 
at  the  packery. 

On  the  23d  of  April  we  left  Houston. by  steamer,  and  reached  Galveston  the  next 
morning,  and  on  the  26th  took  the  steamer  for  Indianola,  where  we  arrived  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  27th.  Finding  a  sail  packet  ready  to  start  for  Corpus  Christi,  we  took  passage 
and  reached  the  latter  place  on  the  29th.  The  next  day  we  rode  out  into  the  country 
some  six  or  eight  miles  from  the  town,  passing  through  the  "Chaparral,"  or  pastures 
densely  set  with  cactus  and  various  thorny  shrubs.  For  several  miles  above  Corpus 
Christi  we  passed  through  the  mixed  growth  of  prairie  and  Chaparral.  On  the  Nueces 
Bay,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  the  face  of  the  country  was  beautiful,  with  a  gentle  rolling 
surface  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  above  the  waters  of  the  bay,  thickly  covered  with 
grasses  and  flowering  plants  ;  and,  interspersed  with  clumps  of  the  graceful  mesquite  tree, 
(Algarobia  glandidosa,)  it  presented  the  appearance  of  a  well-kept  lawn.  On  these  prairies 
the  grasses  were  much  further  advanced  in  growth  than  further  north,  and  I  added  to  my 
collection  many  I  had  not  previously  seen,  and  especially  one  or  two  species  of  mesquite 
grass. 

On  our  return  to  Indianola,  about  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  north  of  Corpus  Christi, 
we  went  out  some  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  into  the  country — all  prairie  ;  and  here  I  was 
also  enabled  to  add  largely  to  my  collection  of  grasses  and  other  Phenogamous  plants.  I 
saw  but  few  Cryptogams  either  at  Corpus  Christi  or  Indianola,  a  few  lichens  and  two  or 
three  species  of  Fungi  comprising  all  from  those  localities.  These  prairie  grasses  were 
as  free  of  cryptogamic  growth  as  those  about  Houston,  and,  although  my  attention  was 
specially  directed  to  them,  I  could  see  nothing  to  excite  suspicion  as  to  their  being  differ 
ently  affected  from  grasses  in  other  places.  There  were  certainly  no  entophytal  fungi 
infesting  them  at  that  time  in  sufficient  quantity  to  attract  my  notice. 

The  lands  which  I  saw  in  Texas  were  all  fertile,  some  of  them  extremely  so.  Most 
of  the  surface  was  of  a  fine  clayey  loam,  in  some  places  rather  tenacious.  From  this 
cause  during  a  wet  spring,  as  the  last  one  was,  it  was  difficult  to  prepare  for  cultivation. 
I  was  informed  along  the  coast  that  the  best  pastures  and  the  most  nutritious  grasses  were 
found  higher  up,  from  fifty  to  sixty  miles  above,  and  there  are  the  best  grazing  lands. 

About  Houston  the  grasses  are  killed  for  a  few  months  during  winter,  but  at  Corpus 
Christi  and  along  the  southern  coast  they  remain  green  and  furnish  good  pasture  all  the 
year  round.  I  here  present  an  analysis  of  my  collection  of  fungi  according  to  their  natural 


FUNGI  OF  TEXAS.  173 

orders,  and  a  comparison  with  those  of  Rev.  Dr.  Curtis's  North  Carolina  collection,  the 
only  full  catalogue  published  in  the  United  States : 


Orders. 


Toxau.  Fungi.  North  Carolina.  Fungi. 


Xo.  of  sjjm'es.  Perceiitaye.  A*o.  of  species.  Perceiitaye. 

Hymeuoiuycetes 04  935  39 

Ascomycetes , 151  52  715  34 

Gasteromycetes 13  4  150  (5 

Hyphomycetes 20  9  IBS 

Coniomycctes 28  9  1541  II 


My  whole  collection  amounts  to  three  hundred  and  fifteen  numbers ;  but  deducting 
thirty,  for  species  too  old  to  be  determined,  and  some  represented  under  other  numbers, 
the  whole  number  may  be  estimated  at  about  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  good  species. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  preceding  comparison  that  the  Texan  falls  below  the  North 
Carolina  collection  in  relation  to  numbers  of  Hymenomycetes,  an  order  which  contains  the 
Agarics,  Boieti,  and  other  large  and  fleshy  species  very  difficult- to  preserve  except  in  dry 
weather.  The  number,  however,  which  I  saw  were  few,  and  I  was  impressed  at  the  time 
with  the  very  few  representatives  of  the  order  in  Texas.  Perhaps  later  in  the  season  that 
inequality  would  not  have  been  observed.  I  was  also  surprised  to  find  so  few,  compara 
tively,  of  the  entophytal  coniomycetes  which  infest  living  plants,  the  rusts,  smuts,  bunts,  &c. 
This  difference  would  also  probably  be  less  at  a  later  period  of  the  season,  as  it  is  mostly 
toward  autumn,  when  the  seeds  of  grasses  are  maturing  and  the  leaves  declining,  that  they 
are  in  the  greatest  profusion. 

Attention  has  been  drawn  in  the  last  few  years  to  the  "Texan  cattle  disease,"  and 
much  interest  has  been  elicited  as  to  the  nature  and  cause  of  this  disease.  In  the  volu 
minous  and  very  able  "Report  of  the  New  York  State  Commissioners  in  connection  with  the 
Metropolitan  Board  of  Health  of  New  York  City,"  this  subject  has  been  very  thoroughly 
investigated,  and  one  of  the  results  which  seem  to  be  definitely  reached  is  the  constant  and 
universal  presence  in  the  blood  and  bile  of  the  diseased  animals  of  certain  cryptogamic 
forms  of  vegetation,  (Micrococci  and  Qryptococci,  so  called,)  primordial  spores  or  cells,  and 
which,  under  the  skillful  manipulation  of  Professor  Hallier,  of  Jena,  have  developed  them 
selves  into  a  distinct  fungus  plant,  which  he  names  Coniothecium  stilesianum,  after  the 
distinguished  microscopist  on  the  New  York  board,  who  first  discovered  them.  Professor 
Hallier,  in  his  letter  of  December  18,  1863,  to  Dr.  Harris  of  the  Metropolitan  Board,  says 
in  regard  to  the  plant:  "Perhaps  you  may  succeed  in  finding  out  the  places  where  this 
Coniothecium  grows  in  nature.  At  all  events,  it  is  a  parasitical  fungus  growing  on  plants, 
and  to  be  looked  for  in  the  food  of  the  wild  bullocks." 

Whether  my  examination  of  a  limited  portion  of  the  flora  of  Texas,  and  comprised 
in  so  short  a  time,  will  throw  any  light  upon  these  interesting  questions,  I  cannot  tell.  My 
observations  were  made  with  as  much  diligence  and  care  as  I  could  command,  and  present, 
as  faithfully  as  I  am  able  to  give  them,  the  true  condition  of  the  pastures  and  the  crypto 
gamic  vegetation  of  the  region  of  country  visited.  As  far  as  I  was  able  to  examine,  I 
found  no  species  of  Coniothecium  on  pasture  grasses  or  on  the  dried  hay.  This,  I  know, 


174  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGKICULTUEE. 

is  only  negative  evidence.  The  spores  of  these  minute  fungi,  when  they  exist,  are  gener 
ally  in  great  abundance,  and  may  be  wafted  about  by  winds  and  carried  by  rains  into 
rivers  and  pools  of  surface  water  which  the  animals  drink.  The  modus  operandi  of  these 
subtle  agents  of  mischief,  (semina  morborum,)  and  the  manner  in  which  they  gain  access 
to  the  animal  system,  have  long  baffled  the  scrutiny  of  scientific  men.  To  establish  the 
fact  of  direct  agency  in  any  of  these  forms  of  vegetation,  and  to  trace  satisfactorily  the 
connection  between  cause  and  effect,  will  require  cumulative  proof  of  very  strong  and  un 
questionable  character.  The  phases  through  which  they  pass,  and  the  different  forms  they 
assume  at  various  periods  of  their  growth,  suggesting  an  analogy  with  the  partheno-genesis 
(or  alternation  of  generations)  in  the  animal  kingdom,  are  another  element  of  difficulty  in 
the  solution  of  this  question.  Such  investigations,  however,  as  those  undertaken  by  the 
New  York  commissioners,  conducted,  as  they  have  been,  in  a  truly  scientific  and  philo 
sophical  spirit,  must  necessarily  result  in  throwing  light  upon  the  subject,  and  be  ultimately 
crowned  with  success. 

My  collection  of  phenogamous  plants  comprises  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  spe 
cies.  Of  these  about  two-thirds  consist  of  Graminece  and  Cyperaccce,  comprising  the  grasses 
proper  and  the  rushes,  sedges,  and  reeds,  and  water  grasses.  I  am  now  engaged  in  their 
examination,  and  will  furnish  to  the  Department  of  Agriculture  a  full  series.  Besides 
these,  I  collected  such  lichens  and  mosses  as  I  could  readily  obtain,  specimens  of  which 
will  also  be  prepared  for  the  Department. 

Tiecapitidation  of  collection  made  in  Texas. 

Species. 

Grasses  and  other  phenogamous  plants,  about 170 

Fungi,  about..  285 

Algic,  about 25 

Musci  and  Hepaticso,  about 35 

Lichens,  about 35 


Total,  about 500 

Respectfully  submitted. 

H.  W.  RAVENEL. 
Hon.  HORACE  CAPRON, 

Commissioner  of  Agriculture. 


REPORT 


STATISTICAL    AND    HISTORICAL    INVESTIGATIONS 


PROGRESS  AND  RESULTS  OF  THE  TEXAS  CATTLE  DISEASE. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

Statistical  Division,  June  10,  1870. 

SIR  :  Two  years  prior  to  the  initiation  of  the  series  of  investigations  chronicled  in 
the  preceding  pages,  and  long  before  the  public  mind  of  the  Atlantic  States  was  aroused  to 
the  dangers  of  the  summer  transportation  of  cattle  fresh  from  the  plains  of  the  Gulf  States, 
there  was  undertaken,  under  my  direction,  a  systematic  investigation  of  the  facts,  stated  and 
reiterated  by  reliable  farmers  in  the  track  of  Texas  cattle  migration,  stoutly  denied  by 
Texans,  referred  by  drovers  to  every  cause  but  their  own  cattle,  and  faintly  believed  or 
mildly  doubted  by  the  people,  and  even  by  the  papers,  of  the  East.  Some  affected  to  regard 
the  reports  from  Kentucky,  from  Missouri,  and  from  Kansas,  as  wild  exaggerations  of  the 
truth,  or  fabrications  in  extenuation  of  controversies  and  violence  begotten  of  encroach 
ments  upon  the  ranges  of  cattle-growers  of  the  border.  But  the  reports  were  too  general, 
the  statements  tco  direct,  and  fortified  by  substantiations  too  strong,  to  be  wholly  ignored. 
Besides,  they  had  been  repeated  year  after  year  since  the  introduction  of  the  southern  cattle, 
not  only  in  those  States,  but  in  the  more  eastern  States  of  similar  latitudes  or  climatic  con 
ditions.  The  drovers  of  Florida  and  Georgia,  in  the  past  generation,  had  witnessed  similar 
results  from  the  movement  of  coast  cattle ;  and  indeed  the  disease  characterized  in  the  pre 
ceding  report  as  splenic  fever  can  be  distinctly  traced  back  into  the  eighteenth  century,  as 
I  propose  to  show. 

It  has  been  in  existence  ever  since  cattle  were  first  driven  from  the  country  bordering 
on  the  coast  of  the  Mexican  Gulf  to  the  upland  regions  to  the  northward,  wherever  cattle 
were  present  on  the  line  of  march  to  receive  the  infection.  If  the  Indians,  prior  to  the 
settlement  of  the  States,  ever  brought  with  them,  in  their  northern  migrations,  Spanish 
or  Mexican  cattle  which  were  native  to  or  had  been  acclimated  in  the  lowlands,  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  this  disease  was  communicated  to  the  cattle  of  the  higher  latitudes. 

The  existence  of  this  disease,  proven  by  adequate  testimony  from  many  places  and 
through  a  long  period  of  time,  was  still  either  positively  unknown  or  practically  ignored 
by  agriculturists  at  a  distance  from  the  places  of  its  prevalence  ;  so  that,  on  the  introduc 
tion  of  Texas  and  Cherokee  cattle,  through  the  swift  intervention  of  steam,  by  river  and 
by  rail,  into  the  heart  of  the  Ohio  valley,  the  results  hitherto  invariably  occurring  among 
Kansas  or  Missouri  stock  now  visited,  with  equal  severity,  the  cattle  of  Illinois  and  Indiana; 
and  forthwith  the  doubt  and  indifference  with  which  a  distant  calamity  was  regarded  were 
exchanged  for  apprehension  and  alarm,  which  spread  rapidly  eastward,  awakening  the 
anxiety  of  stock  owners,  arousing  to  action  city  boards  of  health,  and  causing  panic  among 
purchasers  of  meats.  Even  agricultural  editors,  ignorant  of  the  real  character  of  the 


176  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

disease,  wrote  of  the  probabilities  of  its  dissemination  from  farm  to  farm  like  the  virus  of 
rinderpest — a  result  of  which  no  fears  could  reasonably  have  been  entertained,  native  stock, 
having  the  disease,  not  communicating  it  to  others  *  Yet  this  alarm,  notwithstanding  the 
extravagance  of  its  manifestation,  accomplished  good  results,  calling  public  attention  to 
abuses  in  cattle  transportation,  exciting  inquiry  which  resulted  in  more  intelligent  views 
of  the  subject,  and  promoting  legislative  action  protective  of  the  stock-growing  interests. 

The  first  notice  of  this  disease  which  I  have  been  able  to  find  is  contained  in  a  lecture 
delivered  before  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture,  by  Dr.  James  Mease, 
November  3,  1814,  upon  the  diseases  of  domestic  animals,  in  which  it  is  stated  that 
cattle  of  a  certain  district  in  South  Carolina  "  so  certainly  disease  all  other?)  with  which 
they  mix  in  their  progress  to  the  North  that  they  are  prohibited  by  the  people  of  Virginia 
from  passing  through  the  State."  It  was  mentioned  as  a  singular  fact  that  the  South 
Carolina  cattle  had  the  power  of  infecting  others  with  which  they  associated,  while  they 
themselves  were  in  perfect  health;  and  also  that  cattle  from  Europe  or  the  interior,  brought 
to  the  vicinity  of  the  sea,  were  attacked  with  a  disease  that  generally  proved  fatal.  Dr. 
Mease  corroborates  these  views  from  personal  observation  in  Pennsylvania  in  1796. 
September  20,  1825,  he  read  before  the  same  society  an  "  account  of  a  contagious  disease 
propagated  by  a  drove  of  southern  cattle  in  perfect  health."  The  following  extract  is 
given  :  • 

"  Tn  the  month  of  August  of  the  year  1796,  I  was  on  a  tour  for  the  recovery  of  my 
health,  and  having  called  at  Anderson's  ferry,  [now  Marietta,  above  Columbia,  in  Lancaster 
County,]  on  the  Susquehanna,  I  found  the  people  of  the  house  in  great  distress  on  account 
of  the  death  of  some  of  the  cattle  and  sickness  of  others,  which  had  occurred  in  a  few  days 
after  a  drove  from  the  south  had  left  the  place.  Upon  inquiry,  I  was  informed  that  the 
drover  merely  requested  and  obtained  permission  to  confine  his  cattle  for  one  night  in  a 
plowed  field,  and  I  was  assured  that  the  stock  of  Mr.  Anderson  had  no  intercourse  with 
the  drove,  which,  after  staying  all  night,  pursued  their  journey  in  the  morning  to  Lancaster. 
There  several  head  were  disposed  of  to  different  persons,  and  in  every  instance,  as  I  was 
informed,  they  communicated  disease  to  the  stock  with  which  they  mixed.  The  admission 
of  a  single  head  was  enough  to  give  rise  to  it.  As  the  drove  of  cattle  exhibited  no  mark 
of  illness,  the  mystery  of  the  cause  was  inexplicable,  and  is  so  to  this  day.  They  stopped 
a  day  or  two  near  Downingtown,  thirty-two  miles  from  Philadelphia,  on  the  western 
turnpike,  and  soon  after,  the  field  they  occupied  received  another  drove  which  had  been 
purchased  by  the  late  Mr.  Strieker,  of  Columbia,  on  the  Susquehanna.  It  consisted  of 
two  hundred  and  sixty  head,  and,  as  I  was  afterward  informed  by  Mr.  S.,  had  been  pur 
chased  by  him  in  Maryland  in  the  vicinity  of  Hagerstown,  and  between  that  and  the 
Cove  Mountain.  Sixty  of  this  drove  were  sold  by  Mr.  8.  near  the  Billet,  in  Montgomery 
County,  the  greater  part  of  which  died.  Several  others  were  sold  at  the  Middle  Ferry  on 
the  Schuylkill,  eight  of  them  were  bought  by  the  late  Isaac  Coates,  above  Dowingtown, 
and  all  died.  Some  taken  to  Germantown  shared  the  same  fate.  Part  of  the  South 
Carolina  drove  was  sold  at  Blue  Bell  Tavern,  a  well-known  sale  place  for  drove  cattle,  and 


*  No  fact  in  connection  with  the  Texas  cattle  disease  is  more  firmly  established  than  this.  Among  all  the  records  of  its 
ravages,  in  all  the  years  of  its  history,  no  instance  of  a  secondary  generation  of  the  virus,  no  statement  of  its  communication 
from  a  siclc  northern  animnl  to  a  well  one.  is  noted,  with  a  single  exception,  (referred  to  hereafter.)  which,  if  really  an  exception 
at  all,  only  serves  to  establish  the  rule. 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER.  177 

of  these  forty-six  head  were  purchased  by  Messrs.  Weed  &  Holstein,  who  then  rented  the 
meadows  on  State  Island,  (where  I  then  resided  as  lazaretto  physician,)  and  were  mixed 
with  near  two  hundred  and  seventy  others,  a  part  of  which  had  been  purchased,  half  fat, 
in  the  month  of  June,  preceding.  In  about  four  days  after  the  southern  cattle  had  been 
turned  out  on  the  meadows  they  were  brought  up  to  the  yard  round  the  barn  to  be  branded, 
and  after  remaining  there  a  few  hours  they  were  returned  to  pasture.  The  disease  first 
appeared,  after  a  few  days,  among  the  cows  in  a  field  near  the  barn,  and  which  were  regu 
larly  milked  in  the  yard  used  to  confine  the  southern  eattle  until  branded,  and  in  a  pair 
of  fine  working  oxen,  which  were  regularly  and  daily  fed  and  yoked  in  the  same  yard. 
Several  other  cattle  were  successively  attacked,  to  the  number  of  at  least  twenty;  all  of 
them,  except  one,  died.  All  those  purchased  half  fat  in  June  died.  My  advice  being 
asked,  I  went  to  the  field  where  several  of  the  cattle  lay  ill,  and  was  told  that  the  first 
symptoms  were  loss  of  appetite  and  weakness  of  limbs,  amounting  to  inability  to  stand; 
when  they  fell  they  would  tremble  and  groan  violently.  I  saw  several  in  this  condition. 
Some  discharged  bloody  urine,  others  bled  at  the  nose.  The  bowels  are  generally  very 
costive.  Upon  being  opened,  the  kidneys  were  found  inflamed  and  sometimes  in  a  state 
of  suppuration,  and  intestines  filled  with  hard  balls.  I  prescribed  strong  purgatives.  To 
one  I  gave  two  ounces  of  calomel,  in  sweet  oil  on  the  second  day  of  the  disease,  but  with 
out  producing  any  evacuation.  Bleeding  was  tried  without  success.  The  blood  was  in  a 
state  of  decomposition,  and  did  not  coagulate.  As  a  preventive,  I  recommended  smearing 
the  nose,  horns,  forehead,  hoofs  and  tail  with  tar,  to  counteract  the  contagion  of  the  disease 
by  creating  an  artificial  atmosphere  around  the  animal,  and  also  the  obvious  expedient  of 
an  entire  separation  of  the  old  stock  from  the  strangers.  None  of  the  southern  cattle  died. 
The  circumstance  of  the  cattle  from  a  certain  district  in  South  Carolina  infecting  others 
with  the  disease  above  alluded  to,  has  long  been  known,  but  the  precise  locality,  or  its 
extent,  I  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to  ascertain,  notwithstanding  my  inquiries  on  the  sub 
ject.  The  country  of  the  long-leaf  pine  has  been  said  to  be  the  native  place  of  the  infec 
tion,  but  with  what  certainty  I  am  unable  to  say.  The  cattle  alluded  to  are  said  also  to 
emit  a  peculiar  smell  which  is  easily  perceived  on  a  warm  day,  and  to  be  well  known  in 
South  Carolina." 

Old  residents  of  the  piedmont  region,  between  the  tide-water  areas  and  the  Blue  Ridge, 
are  familiar  with  this  form  of  disease ;  and  the  cattle  drovers  who  have  brought  stock  from 
the  country  of  the  long-leaf  pine  to  greater  elevations  and  higher  latitudes,  testify  with 
remarkable  unity  to  the  constancy  of  its  appearance  and  the  uniformity  of  its  prominent 
characteristics.  The  following  statement  obtained  by  the  Statistical  Division  of  the  -De 
partment  of  Agriculture,  in  April,  1867,  from  Mr.  J.  Wilkinson,  of  Athens,  Georgia,  a 
reliable  cattle  dealer  of  good  judgment  and  great  experience,  embodies  the  essential  points 
of  this  oft  repeated  testimony  : 

"  I  have  been  a  cattle  dealer  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  and  in  that  time  have 
had  many  deaths  among  my  stock  by  this  disease,  and  have  in  consequence  taken  some 
notice,  meanwhile  endeavoring  to  learn  its  causes  and  how  it  was  brought  about.  I  notice 
that  cattle  scarcely  ever  take  the  fever  if  let  remain  where  they  were  raised,  and  I  am 
fully  convinced  it  is  generally  brought  on  by  a  change  of  climate.  For  instance,  you  take 
cattle  from  the  mountain  country  to  the  low  country  and  they  will  take  the  fever  in  a 
23 


178  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

short  time  and  die,  but  their  disease  will  not  affect  the  cattle  raised  there ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  take  cattle  raised  in  what  we  call  the  distempered  part  of  our  country,  that  is,  the  low 
country,  from  warm  latitudes  up  into  a  colder  one,  they  will  themselves  improve  all  the 
time  ;  but,  without  being  sick  themselves,  they  will  spread  the  fever  and  kill  the  cattle  in 
the  section  of  country  into  which  they  are  taken,  till  they  travel  on,  or  have  staid  long 
enough  for  the  fever  to  leave  the  system.  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  driving  cattle  from 
Florida  to  Virginia,  and  have  found  my  cattle  to  improve  and  do  well;  but  after  I  passed 
the  line  of  34  degrees  they  began  to  spread  the  fever  all  along  the  line  of  travel  among  the 
stock  raised  in  that  section  of  the  country,  till  I  struck  the  line  of  Virginia,  which  is  a  dis-, 
tance  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles;  then  it  ceased,  and  all  went  on  well.  I  suppose 
the  reason  for  its  stopping  was  that  my  cattle  had  been  out  of  the  low  country  long  enough 
to  become  acclimated.  Hence,  I  think  the  disease  is  originated  from  a  change  of  climate, 
either  from  a  colder  to  a  warmer  climate,  or  taking  them  from  a  warm  climate  to  a  cooler 
and  more  healthy  one.  How  it  is  that  they  carry  the  disease  with  them  and  give  it  to 
others,  without  injury  to  themselves,  is  a  mystery  I  am  not  able  to  solve,  and  will  leave 
that  to  be  discussed  by  the  bureau  of  investigation." 

THE  INVESTIGATION  OP  1867. 

A  knowledge  of  the  peculiar  features  of  this  disease,  first  described  without  a  name, 
afterward  as  an  "  unknown  disease,''  or  sometimes  "murrain,"  (an  unmeaning  term  applied 
to  various  diseases  in  the  Soulh,)  in  later  times  as  "Spanish  fever,"  and  in  the  investigation 
of  1868  as  "splenic  fever,"  has  been  mainly  confined,  until  recently,  to  localities  in  which 
its  effects  have  been  felt.  A  few  paragraphs  relating  to  it  found  their  way  into  agricultural 
papers,  but  nearly  all  that  was  generally  known  of  its  real  character  and  the  extent  of  its 
prevalence,  up  to  the  time  of  its  outbreak  in  Illinois  in  the  summer  of  1868,  was  obtained 
by  the  Statistical  Division  and  published  in  the  Monthly  Report  of  Agriculture. 

In  1866  inquiries  were  made  at  several  points,  and  the  existence  of  the  disease  was 
ascertained  in  Southern  Kentucky.  Southwestern  Missouri,  and  Southern  Kansas.  In  1 867, 
the  statements  hitherto  received  being  more  suggestive  than  complete  or  satisfactory,  a 
circular  was  issued  inquiring  as  to  the  places, and  dates  of  its  appearance,  the  amount  of 
loss  sustained  and  the  remedial  treatment  adopted. 

The  replies  demonstrated  the  truth  of  previous  information  and  the  traditions  of  the  early 
cattle  trade  in  the  South,  showing  that  the  diseasehad  hitherto  been  developed  among  natives, 
on  the  arrival  of  the  Texans  in  Southern  Kansas  and  Missouri,  in  the  more  elevated  sections 
of  Arkansas,  in  parts  of  Tennessee,  in  Southern  Kentucky,  in  North  Carolina,  and  on  the 
hill  lands  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  It  was  not  reported  firther  north  than  Southern 
Illinois,  and  its  very  existence  appeared  to  be  unknown  in  Ohio,  Pennsylvania  and  Mary 
land.  A  fact  suggestive  of  its  climatic  origin  showed  its  existence  in  the  mountain  lands 
of  Georgia,  where  it  was  generated  by  the  presence  of  lowland  cattle  that  had  scarcely 
been  removed  a  distance  of  fifty  miles.  It  appeared  that  cattle  driven  from  Texas  to 
New  Orleans  did  not  communicate  the  disease  to  the  cattle  of  Louisiana.  Nor  was  there 
any  evidence  that  the  cattle  of  any  one  lowland  section,  when  driven  to  another,  caused 
an  outbreak  of  the  disease.  A  marked  instance  was  reported  from  Arkansas,  eight 
hundred  Texas  cattle  having  been  driven  directly  from  Texas  into  Mississippi  County,  in 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  RE  POUT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER.  179 

1866,  where  they  remained  and  mingled  safely  with  the  native  stock  This  county  lies 
in  a  latitude  sufficiently  high  to  awaken  expectation  of  a  fatal  result  of  such  migration; 
but  it  is  on  the  Mississippi,  in  a  miasmatic  region. 

The  Texas  correspondents  were  indignant  in  their  comments  on  the  "Texas  cattle 
fever.'  Many  claimed  that  their  cattle  were  not  subject  to  any  prevailing  diseases.  One,  in 
Collins  County,  admitted  that  cattle  brought  there  from  the  North  are  liable  to  a  disease 
similar  in  its  symptoms.  This  corresponds  with  the  statement  made  seventy-five  years 
ago  concerning  the  introduction  of  European  and  upland  cattle  into  the  coast  districts  of 
South  Carolina,  and  witli  thousands  of  similar  cases  since,  which  are  by  no  means  incom 
patible  with  the  climatic  theory  which  all  the  facts  seem  to  sustain,  but  furnish  strong 
corroboration  of  it. 

There  is  no  doubt,  that  the  cattle  of  Texas  are  thrifty  and  comparatively  free  from 
diseases,  while  post-mortem  examinations,  in  Texas  and  in  the  abattoirs  of  the  northern 
cities,  show  enlargement  of  the  spleen  and  traces  of  former  derangements  of  the  digestive 
organs.  It  is  also  a  fact  that  the  annual  reports  of  condition  of  farm  stock,  made  to  the 
.Department  of  Agriculture,  contain  accounts  of  fatal  "murrains,"  and  diseases  of  various 
names,  from  the  miasmatic  sections  of  the  country,  more  frequently  than  from  elevated 
locations  and  higher  latitudes.  In  1867,  in  Baker  County,  Florida,  (according  to  the 
report  of  a  correspondent.)  two  thousand  cattle  were  destroyed  by  an  unknown  disease. 
"Murrain"  was  reported,  in  the  returns  of  the  spring  of  1867,  from  many  portions  of  the 
South,  often  without  a  detail  of  symptoms  or  circumstances,  but  in  many  cases  with  descriptions 
highly  suggestive  of  "splenic  fever,"  as  in  Towns  County,  Georgia,  the  return  noting  the 
prevalence  of  "murrain,"  and  stating  that  cattle  "pastured  with  cattle  from  the  South 
take  the  murrain  and  invariably  die,  though  those  brought  from  the  South  do  well."  Tn 
Barton  County,  Georgia,  twenty  cases  of  "Spanish  fever"  were  reported,  and  a  few  in 
Newton  County.  The  investigation  of  1867  showed  that  the  Texas  cattle  migration 
northward,  which  had  been  closed  during  the  period  of  the  war,  its  interruption  resulting 
in  total  exemption  from  the  Texas  cattle  disease  for  precisely  the  same  period,  had  been 
vigorously  prosecuted  anew  on  the  return  of  peace,  bringing  with  it  the  old  disease,  which 
raged  just  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  the  movement  of  southern  droves.  Its  ravages, 
in  1866,  were  mainly  confined  to  Kansas  and  Missouri,  with  a  few  instances  of  its  preva 
lence  in  Kentucky  and  Southern  Illinois.  A.  few  extracts  from  these  returns  will  illustrate 
the  peculiar  features  of  this  disease. 

Kansas. — In  Linn  County  it  had  "been  prevalent  in  .summer  and  fall,  but  is  seldom, 
if  ever,  known  in  winter."  "A  disease  made  its  appearance  in  Burlingame  (in  Osage) 
about  the  1st  of  August,  called  by  some,  Spanish  fever;  by  some,  dry  murrain.  After 
ward  it  prevailed  in  other  parts  of  the  county.  It  was  principally  confined  to  the 
Santa  Fe  road,  which  runs  east  and  west  through  the  county.  Not  one  in  twenty  recov 
ered.  The  damage  could  not  be  less  than  $5,000.  Blooded  stock  were  more  frequently 
attacked  and  rarely  recovered.  The  usual  remedies  for  murrain  were  tried,  but  were 
of  no  avail.  After  that  medicines  were  given  as  an  experiment,  but  the  cures  were  so 
few,  if  any  there  were,  that  nothing  was  established.  The  first  symptoms  were  a  moping 
and  an  apparent  weakness  about  the  loins.  A  high  fever  set  in,  and  the  animal  kept  on 
foot,  eating  and  drinking  as  usual,  until  it  laid  down  to  die.  Some  were  packed  in  wet 
cloths;  some  were  drenched  with  salts;  to  some  sulphur,  saltpeter,  sweet  spirits  of  niter, 


180  DEPARTMENT  CT  AGlUCULTUJUv 

lard,  copperas,  garlic,  poke-root,  and  other  medicines,  in  indefinite  quantities,  were  admin 
istered.  Let  alone  was  the  best  remedy.  The  animal  died  in  about  a  week  after  being 
attacked.  There  seemed  no  difficulty  in  getting  physic  to  operate;  the  bowels  were  gen 
erally  active  and  open.  After  death  there  seemed  to  have  been  a  high  fever  in  some  localities ; 
sometimes  in  the  stomach,  sometimes  in  the  kidneys,  sometimes  in  the  lungs  As  a  gen 
eral  rule  the  stomach  was  dried  up;  the  bladder  full  of  red  water,  but  not  bloody.  The 
eyes  looked  as  usual  and  the  fore -quarters  seemed  strong.  I  account  for  the  different 
appearance  in  different  animals  by  the  fact  that  injurious  medicines  of  different  kinds 
had  been  given  to  different  animals  which  I  examined.  All  this  stock  had  pure  water 
and  good  grass.  The  first  case  that  occurred  was  that  of  an  ox,  which  belonged  'to  a 
logging  team  of  seven  yoke.  This  ox,  on  account  of  his  breachy  propensities,  was  kept 
at  night  in  a  stable,  and  watered  from  a  well  of  pure  water.  When  not  at  work  in  I  he 
day-time  he  was  staked  out  to  grass  with  a  long  rope  About  two  weeks  before  he  was 
attacked  with  this  disease  a  herd  of  Texas  cattle  came  along  and  were  stopped  and  fed 
around  him  for  an  hour  or  more.  Soon  after  the  rest  of  this  team  were  attacked,  and  all 
died  but  one,  which  escaped  the  disease.  Along  the  trail  of  this  Texas  herd,  which  left 
the  Sante  Fe  road  at  Burlingame,  and  traveled  north,  almost  every  farmer  lost  stock. 
Cattle  that  belonged  to  Burlingame,  and  ranged  north  over  this  trail,  nearly  all  died, 
while  those  which  ranged  south  all  escaped,  though  they  were  herded  at  night  in  the 
same  yards.  Another  herd  of  Texas  cattle  passed  through  the  county  eight  miles  east  of 
Burlingame,  in  another  direction,  and  they  left  their  trail,  whole  herds  dying  where  they 
passed  along.  People  here  are  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the  disease  came  from 
Texas.  Cattle  from  the  Cherokee  country  do  not  bring  that  disease.  Neither  do  these 
cattle  after  they  have  been  wintered  here."  "Spanish  fever  was  brought  in  by  Texas  cattle, 
(in  Leavenworth,)  but  was  confined  to  certain  limits,  on  uninhabited  Indian  reserves,  as 
the  people  would  not  allow  any  to  be  pastured  around  farms  in  the  settlements.  It 
appeared  from  three  to  four  weeks  after  the  Texas  cattle  came  in  or  passed  by,  among 
cattle  that  grazed  on  the  same  ground  where  the  Texans  had  grazed  over  night,  or  staid 
for  a  greater  length  of  time.  It  appeared  in  the  latter  part  of  July.  The  Texans  arrived 
in  June.  At  four  different  times  in  seven  years  this  has  been  the  case,  always  three  or 
four  weeks  subsequent  to  the  Texan  arrivals.  Loss,  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  those 
attacked.  Bleeding,  cathartics,  stimulants,  hydropathy,  &c.,  have  been  tried  by  multi 
tudes.  I  have  personally  exhausted  the  whole  range  of  cattle  medicines,  and  lost  very 
largely  in  1857,  1858,  and  1859,  but  found  no  remedy  in  any  direction;  in  a  word  there 
is  none  known.  All  were  attacked  that  were  exposed  to  the  cause.''  "The  Spanish  fever 
broke  out  in  December,  (in  Woodson,)  arid  raged  until  the  1st  of  January,  when  the  cold 
weather  set  in  and  checked  it.  In  the  immediate  localities  where  the  Texas  cattle  crossed 
the  country  the  losses  were  heavy.  Some  farmers  lost  all  they  -had,  and  no  less  than 
thirty  per  cent,  of  the  cattle  have  died.  The  methods  of  treatment  have  been  various. 
I  have  treated  the  disease  in  its  incipient  stages,  and  have  seen  everything  tried  that 
ingenuity  could  devise.  Calomel  did  no  good;  salts  and  alkalies  all  failed."  "TheSpanish 
fever,  or  something  similar,  (in  Douglas,)  made  its  appearance  about  the  1st  of  February 
among  a  few  cattle  that  were  driven  from  the  South.  I  think  the  severity  of  the  winter 
caused  the  greatest  loss ;  about  one-third  of  all  the  cattle  brought  from  the  South  have 
died.  The  only  treatment  was  to  give  the  weaker  ones  a  little  more  care,  and  separate 


•STATISTICAL  AS  I)  UISTOHICAL  KEPOKT  OF  SPLKXIO  FEVE1J.  181 

them  from  the  stronger  ones."  "The  Spanish  fever  appeared  during  the  first  part  of  last 
May,  (in^Port  Scott,)  about  the  time  Texas  cattle-  commenced  driving,  and  continued  all 
summer.  Texas  cattle  did  not  appear  to  suffer  any  ill  effect  from  the  disease,  but  fully 
one-half  of  the  native  cattle  in  the  county  died  with  it.  No  remedy  has  been  found  for 
this  disease."  "Within  the  last  ten  years  we  have  had  the  Spanish  fever  in  this  county 
three  times,  (in  Franklin,)  and  it  is  indisputable  that  in  every  case  cattle  from  the  South 
had  been  driven  through  our  county.  Yet  I  have  frequently  heard  those  who  have 
resided  in  Texas  say  that  the  disease  known  here  as  Spanish  fever  is  unknown  in  the 
section  they  came  from.  I  think  it  is  generally  admitted  that  it  is  only  when  cattle  are 
driven  in  droves  in  hot  weather  that  the  disease  manifests  itself." 

Missouri. — "There  were  a  few  cases  of  Spanish  fever  among  cattle  in  this  county, 
(Howard,)  immediately  on  the  public  roads  on  which  Texas  cattle  had  been  driven.  No 
other  disease.  August  was  the  month  in  which' the  above  fever  occurred.  No  treatment 
was  instituted,  and  all  died."  "The  Spanish  fever  appeared  in  July  and  August,  (in  Cass,) 
after  the  passage  of  droves  of  stock  from  Texas  and  Arkansas.  Some  sections  of  the 
county  did  not  suffer;  others,  through  which  the  travel  mainly  passed,  lost  fully  five  per 
cent,  of  their  stock.  The  loss  throughout  the  county  is  fully  two  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
number  of  cattle.  Various  remedies  were  tried  to  save  the  sick  cattle,  but  nothing  found 
effectual."  "We  lost  some  cattle  last  summer  with  the  Spanish  fever,  (in  Oallaway,)  imme 
diately  on  the  trail  of  a  drove  of  Texas  cattle  that  passed  through  our  county.  Almost 
every  one  living  on  the  road  where  they  passed  lost  more  or  less,  if  their  cattle  ran  outside 
or  grazed  on  the  same  pasture  or  prairie;  but  it  did  not  spread  from  those  farms  on  the 
road.  Almost  all  that  were  attacked  died.  We  know  of  no  cure  for  it  <:  "Spanish  fever 
was  introduced  into  the  western  part  of  this  county  (Christian)  by  droves  of  Texas 
cattle  passing  in  October.  Was  very  fatal,  but  spread  over  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
county.  No  remedy  applied."  "The  Spanish  fever  appeared  about  the  1st  of  July,  (in 
Newton,)  and  continued  until  the  1st  of  October.  Various  remedies  have  been  tried,  but 
none  proved  effectual.  The  fever  appeared  to  be  caused  by  Texas  cattle  passing  through  the 
county.  Many  droves  were  stopped  last  summer  by  the  citizens,  and  not  allowed  to  pass 
until  October.  There  was  no  sign  of  disease  among  the  Texas  cattle."  "The  Spanish  fever 
is  the  only  disease  that  has  prevailed  (in  Bates)  among  the  cattle  in  this  section  of  the 
country.  The  disease  is  never  seen  until  from  ten  days  to  two  weeks  after  the  passing 
through  the  county  of  Spanish  cattle,  which  generally  commences  about  the  1st  of  June 
and  continues  through  the  season.  The  loss  in  our  county  for  the  year  1866  will  not  fall 
short  of  sixteen  hundred  head.  In  some  cases  it  killed  entire  herds.  There  is  no  effectual 
remedy  known  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  county."  "The  Texas  or  Spanish  fever  prevailed 
to  some  extent  in  our  county,  (Chariton,)  on  the  road  traveled  by  a  drove  of  Texas  cattle 
'through  the  county,  but  the  disease  was  not  in  other  parts  of  the  county.  The  number 
lost  was  about  sixty.  No  remedy  was  discovered  that  tended  to  alleviate  the  disease. 
Nearly  all  the  cattle  attacked  died  in  a  short  time."  "Spanish  fever  has  prevailed  wherever 
Texas  cattle  have  passed,  (in  Cedar,)  and  attacks  our  native  cattle  directly,  or  soon  after 
feeding  on  the  same  ground,  in  the  spring,  summer,  or  fall.  It  is  thought  that  our  cattle 
would  not  take  the  disease  in  the  winter  season,  but  this  may  only  "be  conjecture,  as  no 
large  droves  have  yet  been  driven  here  from  the  South  in  the  winter.  The  loss  is  great, 
say  eight-tenths.  No  remedy  or  treatment  has  yet  been  successful." 


182  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Kentucky. — "  The  Spanish  fever  was  introduced  into  this  county  (Oldham)  in  June  last 
by  cattle  brought  from  Texas  by  parties  to  sell  to  grazers.  I  have  not  seen  any  of  the 
diseased  cattle  this  season.  The  number  that  died  did  not  exceed  fifty  head,  as  the  Texas 
cattle  only  passed  through  one  corner  of  the  county.  The  24th  day  of  June,  1860,  there 
were  driven  on  my  farm,  to  stay  over  night,  about  fifty  head  of  Texas  cattle.  Some  forty 
days  after  they  left,  about  the  18th  of  August,  the  disease  broke  out  among  my  milch 
cows  and  heifers  and  work  cattle.  I  lost  fourteen  head,  worth  seven  to  eight  hun 
dred  dollars.  At  the  same  time  I  was  grazing  a  lot  of  large  fat  cattle  for  one  of  my 
neighbors — about  sixty  head;  out  of  the  number  eleven  head  died,  valued  about  the  same 
as  my  own.  This  was  the  first  appearance  of  the  disease  in  this  State.  I  tried  all  the 
remedies  I  could  think  of.  Some  of  the  diseased  ones  recovered,  though  I  will  not  say  what 
remedy  reached  the  disease.  Work  oxen  that  crossed  the  road  traveled  by  these  cattle  took 
the  disease  and  died.  In  the  last  stages  of  the  disease  greenish  and  yellow  matter  exudes 
from  the  nose.  The  animal  will  live,  in  some  cases,  ten  or  twelve  days  after  being  attacked. 
This  county  has  not  been  entirely  free  from  the  disease  in  the  last  ten  years.  Almost 
every  farmer  has  a  remedy  of  his  own.  I  have  had  the  disease  in  my  herd  twice;  the 
first  time  I  lost  one  hundred  and  fifty — nearly  all  I  hail.  '  "Last  summer  my  son  bought 
at  auction,  in  Lexington,  (Fayette,)  twenty-four  Kentucky  raised  cattle.  Shortly  after  the 
purchase  five  of  the  cattle  were  taken  sick,  four  of  which  died.  It  was  ascertained  that 
these  five  cattle  had  been  driven  along  the  road  over  which  some  Texas  cattle  had  traveled. 
The  former  had  been  given  green  corn,  and  the  one  that  eat  freely  of  it  recovered.  They 
were  all  taken  sick  the  same  day,  and  the  four  died  the  second  and  third  days  after.  None 
of  the  other  cattle  were  affected,  though  all  were  in  the  same  pasture.  It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  Kentucky  cattle  pastured  with,  or  shortly  after  Texas  cattle,  or  driven  along  the 
road  after  them,  will  take  this  fever.  Tt  is  believed,  however,  that  it  is  never  taken 
from  the  native  stock.  The  Texas  fever  had  been  very  destructive  in  the  neighborhood 
from  which  these  five  cattle  were  driven  from  Lexington/' 

Illinois. — "In  the  southern  part  of  this  county  (Perry) Spanish  fever  appeared  in  July 
last,  among  cattle  that  were  pastured  on  ground  that  had  been  previously  occupied  by  a  drove 
of  Texas  cattle.  The  loss  was  about  seventy  head.  Various  remedies  were  tried,  but 
none  of  them  were  effectual.  I  understood  that  all  the  cattle  were  attacked  with  the  dis 
ease  that  followed  the  Texas  cattle  in  the  pasture,  and  that  all  that  were  attacked  died. 
It  appears  also  that  the  Texas  cattle,  while  feeding  in  the  pasture,  had  no  appearance  of 
disease." 

The  losses  had  now  become  so  heavy  in  Missouri  and  Kansas,  notwithstanding 
repressive  State  enactments  and  organized  violent  opposition  to  the  cattle  movement  which 
had  proved  an  effective  bar  to  the  malady  in  certain  instances  of  vigorous  enforcement,  that 
Congress  was  formally  called  upon  for  aid  in  a  scientific  investigation.  The  Commissioner, 
of  Agriculture,  in  calling  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  following  resolution  of  the  Leg 
islature  of  Kansas,  reported  progress  in  his  efforts  to  obtain  the  actual  facts  relative  to  this 
singular  and  fatal  disease,  which  he  feared  might  "result  in  great  loss  to  the  people  of 
Kentucky,  Missouri,  Kansas,  and  possibly  to  those  of  other  States,  if  Texas  cattle  should 
be  allowed  unrestricted  range  through  them:" 

"Whereas  there  annually  prevails  a  contagious  disease  among  the  cattle  of  this  and 
adjoining  States,  commonly  known  as  'Spanish  fever,'  destroying  large  numbers,  thereby 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER,  183 

seriously  affecting  the  interests  of  productive  industry;  and  whereas  such  disease  is  propa 
gated  by  the  introduction  of  cattle  from  the  State  of  Texas  and  the  Indian  Territory,  south  of 
Kansas;  and  whereas  the  want  of  a  scientific  investigation  of  the  said  disease  has  rendered 
void  any  effort  to  arrest  its  ravages  :  Therefore, 

"^Resolved  by  the  Souse  of  Representatives  of  the  State  of  Kansas,  (the  Senate 
concurring,)  That  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
are  instucted  to  urge  and  support  an  appropriation  by  said  Congress  to  enable  the  Depart 
ment  of  Agriculture  to  make  the  said  scientific  investigation,  and  that  a  copy  of  this  reso 
lution  be  forwarded  to  each  of  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress,  and  also  to 
the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture.'  • 

It  was  stated,  in  connection  with  this  resolution,  that  the  people  of  Southern  Kansas, 
conscious  of  their  danger,  and  distrustful  of  the  efficacy  of  governmental  action  for  their 
defense,  were  then  taking  the  matter  into  their  own  hands,  and  organizing  vigilance  com 
mittees  to  arrest  and  force  back  the  Texas  cattle  movement.  A  meeting,  representing  the 
farmers  living  in  the  vicinity  of  McDowell,  Humboldt,  Clark,  and  Lyon  Creek,  had  just 
organized  a  large  committee  of  resolute  farmers,  fully  able  to  put  in  force  an  illegal  but 
salutary  restriction. 

THE  OUTBREAK  IN  1868. 

Early  in  June  of  1.868,  the  "Spanish,"  "splenic/'  or  "Texas  cattle"  fever,  appeared 
at  Cairo,  Illinois,  the  most  southern  point  in  the  State,  and  the  place  of  transhipment  of 
Texas  cattle  from  steamboat  to  railroad  cars.  It  was  a  new  and  speedy  mode  of  obtaining 
Texas  cattle,  by  which  they  were  introduced  into,  the  prairies  of  Illinois  in  less  time  than 
was  previously  occupied  in  reaching  Kansas  on  foot.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the 
cattle  in  the  vicinity  of  Cairo  were  soon  dying  in  large  numbers;  and  as  repeated  ship 
ments  were  dispatched  into  the  interior,  the  stations  at  which  they  were  yarded  and  fed, 
preparatory  to  distribution  by  different  railroad  lines,  became  centers  of  infection,  spread 
ing  disease  among  native  stock  coming  upon  the  same  herding  grounds  or  drinking  from 
the  same  streams  or  ponds. 

At  Tolono,  the  junction  of  the  Illinois  Central  and  Toledo  and  Wabash  railroads, 
where  the  disease  appeared  about  the  20th  of  July,  it  swept  away  nearly  all  the  cattle  of 
the  neighborhood,  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  cows  dying  prior  to  the  1st  of  August. 

It  spread  rapidly  through  Illinois  and  Indiana,  appearing  only  where  Texas  cattle  had 
been  dropped  at  cattle  yards,  or  on  routes  over  which  they  had  been  driven  to  feeding 
grounds  ;  and  in  a  few  instances  in  Ohio,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  in  New  England, 
it  was  communicated  by  the  southern  long-horns  to  native  cattle. 

The  alarm  became  general,  and  repressive  measures  were  everywhere  adopted  by 
boards  of  health,  city  governments  and  State  authorities.  The  Commissioner  of  Agricul 
ture,  in  continuance  of  efforts  now  beginning  to  be  appreciated,  authorized  an  investigation 
by  a  veterinarian  then  in  the  country,  who  had  been  prominent  in  similar  labors  in  Europe, 
Prof.  John  Gamgee,  of  London.  Upon  this  tour  of  observation  and  examination  he  was 
accompanied  by  H.  D.  Emery,  editor  of  the  Prairie  Farmer,  as  a  volunteer  assistant. 
The  results  of  that  and  other  practical  inquiries  into  the  nature,  causes,  and  operations  of 
this  mysterious  disease  are  recorded  in  this  volume. 


184  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Up  to  this  point  the  statistical  investigations  conducted  during  the  two  preceding  years 
had  resulted  in  the  accumulation,  from  a  wide  range  of  territory,  of  a  mass  of  facts,  which 
were  singularly  explicit  and  uniform,  pointing  to  certain  marked  peculiarities  of  the  disease. 
About  the  middle  of  August,  at  the  outset  of  the  medical  investigation,  I  made  public  a 
summary  of  results,  obtained  by  previous  statistical  inquiries,  which  appeared  to  establish 
the  following  conclusions: 

1.  That  the  disease  is  communicated  by  Texas  cattle,  or  those  from  Florida  or  other 
parts  of  the  Gulf  coast. 

2.  That  the  disease  itself  is  unknown  in  Texas. 

3.  That  the  cattle  communicating  it  are  not  only  apparently  healthy,  but  generally 
improving  in  condition. 

4.  That  while  local  herds  receiving  the  infection  nearly  all  die,  they  never  communi 
cate  the  disease  to  others. 

5.  That  either  a  considerable  increase   in    elevation,  or   a  distance  of  two  or  three 
degrees  of  latitude  from  the  starting  point,  is  necessary  to  develop  the  virus  into  activity 
and  virulency  ;   and  a  further  progress  of  two  degrees  of  latitude  or  a  few  weeks  in  time 
is  sufficient  to  eliminate  the  poison  from  the  system. 

6.  That  Texas  cattle  removed  to  other  miasmatic  sections,  as  the  Mississippi  bottoms,  up 
to  the  thirty-sixth  parallel,  communicate  no  infection  to  local  herds. 

7.  Medication  has  thus  far  been  of  little  avail. 

The  conclusion  was  thence  derived  that  the  disease  could  not  generally  spread  and 
involve  the  cattle  of  the  country  ;  that  New  York  stock  would  not  take  the  infection  from 
sick  western  cattle,  though  they  might  from  steers  recently  from  Texas,  or  from  cattle  cars 
infected  by  such  animals,  and  that  the  danger  might  be  averted  by  the  arrest  of  the  Texas 
cattle  movement  during  the  summer  months,  or  by  separating  them  in  the  transit  from  the 
native  cattle,  and  thoroughly  disinfecting  the  boats  and  cars  in  which  they  are  borne;  but 
that  the  safer  plan  would  be  to  carry  them  to  eastern  markets  only  in  winter,  when  the 
virus  is  inert,  or  after  a  winter's  grazing  in  safe  seclusion  on  the  border's. 

STATISTICAL  INVESTIGATION  OF  1868. 

In  the  autumn  of  1868  a  circular  was  sent  to  all  portions  of  the  country  in  which 
the  Texas  cattle  disease  had  ever  appeared,  in  which  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture 
intimated  his  purpose  to  give  the  subject  "official  attention  until  its  character  is  definitely 
known,  and  the  traffic  in  southwestern  cattle  so. regulated  by  law  as  to  give  safety  to  our 
farmers,  and  furnish  an  outlet  to  the  surplus  stock  of  Texas,  and  cheap  store  cattle  to  the 
feeders  of  Illinois  and  Missouri."  The  following  questions  were  asked  : 

1.  In  what  town  or  locality  did  this  disease  first  appear  in  your  county? 

2.  At  what  date  was  the  first  arrival  this  season  of  southwestern  cattle  ? 

3.  By  what  route,  and  from  what  section  did  they  come  ? 

4.  What  numbers  of  such  cattle  have  been  received  in  your  county  during  the  present 
season  ? 

5.  What  was  their  condition  on  arrival  ?     How  many  were  diseased  ?     How  many 
subsequently  sickened  ?     If  death  occurred,  at  what  interval  after  sickening ;  and  were  the 
symptoms  the  same  as  those  of  native  stock  dying  from  the  so-called  "Texas  fever?" 


STATISTICAL  AND  IIISTOEICAL  EEPOET  OF  SPLENIC  FEVEH.  185 

6.  How  many  days  elapsed  from  their  introduction  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  disease 
among  the  native  stock  ? 

7.  What  number  of  natives  died,  and  in  what  proportion  to  the  whole  number  attacked  ? 

8.  Has  the  disease  been  communicated,  except  to  animals  that  have  fed  upon  pastures 
or  in  lots  soiled  by  the  excrements  of  the  southern  cattle  ? 

9.  Has  a  case  occurred  of  the  infection  by  one  native  animal  of  another? 
Responses  were  prompt  and  general,  of  a  tenor  similar  to  those  of  former  years,  but 

indicating  a  wider  diffusion  and  greater  losses  than  ever  before.  A  synopsis  of  this  mate 
rial  will  convey  its  essential  features,  and  avoid  something  of  its  reiteration.  The  States 
suffering  most  severely  were  Illinois,  Indiana,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Arkansas,  and  Kentucky. 
Those  in  which  the  disease  was  communicated  by  droves  coming  in  on  foot  will  be  first 
considered. 

Arkansas. — In  accordance  with  information  previously  received  from  this  State,  the 
returns  showed  that  certain  locations  were  liable  to  the  introduction  of  this  disease,  while 
others,  generally  near  the  Mississippi  or  the  Arkansas  River,  were  wont  to  receive  Texas 
droves  with  impunity.  Mr.  Tennison,  of  Arkadelphia,  Clark  County,  stated  that  he  had 
been  pasturing  droves  of  cattle  for  two  previous  years,  and  as  long  as  they  were  kept 
separate  from  his  native  stock,  no  outbreak  occurred  ;  but  in  1868  lie  penned  two  droves 
with  his  own  herd  and  lost  six  out  of  eighteen,  and  at  the  date  of  writing  feared  he  should 
lose  them  all.  The  symptoms  were  "  depression  of  the  eyes,  falling  of  the  ears,  discharge 
from  nostrils,  hair  dry  and  rough,  body  swollen,  no  disposition  to  eat  or  drink,  bloody 
discharges  mixed  with  water  ;  death  occurred  in  from  two  to  three  days." 

About  three  thousand  cattle  from  Western  Texas  passed  through  Drew  County,  all  in 
good  condition,  though  not  fat,  and  no  disease  resulted.  Drew  is  in  the  southeastern 
portion  of  Arkansas,  in  a  latitude  and  location  in  which  no  infection  would  be  expected. 

In  Crawford  County  neither  the  "Spanish  fever"  nor  any  disease  resembling  it  has 
ever  occurred.  A  very  large  cattle  trade  has  been  going  on  between  the  citizens  of  Craw 
ford  and  those  of  Texas,  for  years  before  and  since  the  war.  Van  Buren  (the  principal 
town)  is 'immediately  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Arkansas  River,  and  is  the  main  crossing 
on  the  route  from  Northern  and  Eastern  Texas,  droves  of  Texan  cattle  numbering  from  one 
hundred  to  one  thousand  head  crossing  at  Van  Buren  Perry  almost  every  month  for  years 
past.  Herds  of  long-horned  Texan  cattle  are  continually  pastured  in  the  county,  mixing 
and  intermixing  with  the  native  stock,  so  that  fully  one-half  of  the  stock  owned  there 
are  Texan  cattle. 

In  Washington  County  the  first  cases  occurred  in  the  vicinity  of  Cincinnati.  Cattle 
coming  through  the  Indian  country,  Choctaw,  Creek,  and  Cherokee  Nations,  and  entering 
the  State  a  few  miles  above  Cincinnati,  began  to  arrive  about  the  10th  of  April ;  two  or 
three  thousand  passed  through  in  1868,  and  about  half  that  number  remained  in  the  county, 
all  in  healthy,  thriving  condition.  The  disease  -broke  out  about  three  months  after  their 
introduction,  in  the  latter  part  of  July,  and  destroyed  about  four  per  cent,  of  the  native 
cattle,  four-fifths  of  the  whole  number  attacked. 

Kansas. — Since  the  legislative  prohibition  of  the  passage  of  Texas  cattle  through  the 
State  at  any  point  east  of  the  hundredth  degree  of  west  longitude,  except  on  the  Union • 
Pacific  railroad,  the  cattle  of  the  State  have  been  generally  exempt  from  the  disease. 
24 


186  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTUEE. 

The  returns  from  Osage  County  state  that  no  Texas  cattle  were  allowed  an  entrance, 
and  hence  there  was  no  disease ;  but  that  in  1866,  native  cattle  sickened  in  about  a  week 
after  the  introduction  of  a  drove  from  Texas,  and  fifty  died. 

About  two  thousand  head  of  cattle  from  the  Cherokee  country  passed  through  Morris 
County  without  communicating  the  disease. 

The  fever  prevailed  in  the  northern  part  of  Bourbon  County,  and  destroyed  six  hun 
dred  head  of  the  native  stock,  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  attacked.  About  five 
hundred  head  of  the  Texan  cattle  have  entered  the  county  after  the  1st  of  June,  coming 
via  Fort  Smith  and  Baxter  Springs.  They  were  in  good  condition  and  apparently  healthy. 
The  disease  broke  out  in  from  four  to  ten  days  after  their  introduction. 

Ten  steers  arrived  in  Troy,  Doniphan  County,  July  15,  all  apparently  healthy.  In 
about  five  weeks  after  their  introduction  twelve  head  died,  and  several  more  were  sick  at 
the  date  of  the  return.  None  recovered.  In  former  years  (before  the  prohibitory  law)  the 
native  stock  suffered  severely  from  Texas  fever.  The  opinion  obtains  here  that  the 
disease  is  communicated  by  the  feet,*  for  if  Texan  and  native  cattle  are  kept  in  adjoining 
pastures,  merely  separated  by  a  fence,  the  native  stock  remain  healthy,  but  if  they  pass 
over  the  track  of  the  Texan  cattle,  they  are  almost  sure  to  become  diseased. 

Our  correspondent  in  Butler  reports  that  probably  one  hundred  thousand  passed 
through  that  county  in  1868,  and  at  least  ten  thousand  remained  to  winter.  They  Vere 
generally  healthy,  and  in  fair  condition ;  probably  one  per  cent,  lame,  with  matter  oozing 
out  at  the  top  of  the  hoof,  but  without  any  symptoms  of  Texan  fever.  He  assumes  that 
the  time  from  their  introduction  to  the  outbreak  among  the  native  cattle  varies  according 
to  the  temperature — in  hot  weather  from  nine  to  ten  days  only  may  elapse  before  the 
development  of  the  disease,  but  as  the  cold  season  approaches,  much  longer  time  is 
required.  In  colder  weather  a  larger  proportion  of  the  native  stock  attacked,  recover.  No 
case  occurred  except  among  cattle  exposed  to  the  Texan  herds.  Texan  cattle,  after  passing 
two  winters  in  Kansas,  take  the  fever  as  readily  as  the  native  stock  on  being  exposed  to 
animals  recently  from  Texas. 

In  Greenwood  County  large  numbers  of  cattle  died  with  splenic  fever,  in  September, 
1865.  Our  correspondent  lost  fifty-two  per  cent,  of  his  cattle  on  the  home  range,  through 
which  lay  the  highway  traveled  by  Texas  cattle,  while  three  other  herds,  four  or  five 
miles  away,  were  perfectly  healthy.  The  experience  of  his  neighbors  was  of  the  same 
character ;  and  the  watering  and  camping  places  of  the  droves  were  everywhere  marked 
by  carcasses  of  domestic  cattle.  The  period  of  incubation  was  ten  to  twenty  days. 

The  loss  from  "  Spanish  fever  "  in  Dickinson  County  was  over  $6,000  in  1868. 

Ten  head  of  oxen  died  in  Republic  County  in  the  fall  of  1867,  after  feeding  on  the 
track  of  Texan  herds.  In  Butler  and  Wyandotte  several  fatal  cases  were  reported. 

Missouri. — The  losses  from  this  disease  in  Southwestern  Missouri  for  several  years 
prior  to  the  war,  and  from  1865  to  1868,  when  legal  restrictions  on  summer  driving  were 
quite  generally  enforced,  have  been  extremely  burdensome.  Vernon  County  appears  to  have 
suffered  more  than  other  counties.  The  losses  there  in  1858  are  estimated  at  $200,000. 
The  arrival  of  Texas  cattle  has  uniformly  been  the  prelude  to  prevalent  disease  and  heavy 

"The  facts  are  correct,  but  the  deduction  may  be  faulty;  a  better  conclusion  would  be  that  the  virus  comes  from  the 
excrement. 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVKif.  187 

loss.     A  full  report  of  the  symptoms  and  ravages  of  this  disease  was  made  by  Dr.  Albert 
Badger,  of  Vernon,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  : 

"This  disease  was  first  recognized  as  having  been  propagated  by  cattle  driven  from 
Texas  twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago ;  it  having  been  in  the  county  some  two  seasons  previous 
to  its  having  been  traced  to  the  Texas  cattle. 

"From  the  first  breaking  out  of  this  fever  it  was  found  to  be  confined  to  the  large 
roads  or  highways  running  through  the  county  from  south  to  north,  and,  finally,  was 
centered  on  the  Texas  cattle,  I  believe,  in  the  year  1853,  by  its  being  confined  to  one 
highway  through  the  county  over  which  these  cattle  passed  that  year.  On  this  road  the 
disease  was  quite  fatal,  killing  about  fifty  per  cent,  of  all  the  cattle  on  the  road,  and 
persons  living  near  the  water-courses  over  which  the  road  crossed  lost  as  high  as  ninety 
per  cent.  Captain  Freeman  Barrows  and  Peter  Colley,  the  one  living  at  the  ford  of  the 
Osage  River,  the  other  near  by,  lost  ninety  per  cent. ;  one  of  them  owning  about  one 
hundred  head,  while  the  other  had  considerably  above  that  number.  Mr.  Collins,  living 
at  the  ford  of  Clear  Creek,  south  of  the  above,  lost  an  equal  proportion.  The  disease 
being  in  no  other  part  of  the  county  that  year  satisfied  the  people,  on  this  road  at  least, 
that  they  had  found  the  true  origin,  as  it  had  been  among  the  cattle  in  the  county  for  two 
summers  past.  In  a  season  or  two  after  almost  every  settler  of  the  county  was  convinced 
that  the  Texas  cattle  in  some  way  communicated  this  fever  to  our  stock,  although  a  few 
persons,  living  secluded  from  (lie  great  highways,  were  unbelievers,  and  still  remain  so. 
In  fact,  the  way  this  disease  is  propagated,  the  obscurity  surrounding  it,  together  with  the 
different  opinions  of  persons  familiar  with  it,  give  them,  at  least,  a  reasonable  excuse  for 
doubting  the  prevailing  belief.  Two  things  are  agreed  to  by  all :  the  symptoms  of  the 
fever  and  its  fatality,  the  latter  being  much  greater  in  a  warm  dry  summer  than  in  a  cold 
wet  one;  the  disease  always  ceasing  when  the  frosts  have  killed  the  vegetation. 

''The  first  symptom  of  the  fever,  discoverable  several  days  before  any  appearance  of 
sickness,  is  a  dry  cough,  noticeable  by  careful  observers.  In  a  few  days  after  this  the 
nose  becomes  dry  and  the  ears  slightly  drooping,  and  more  flies  will  collect  than  on 
healthy  cattle.  At  this  stage  the  breath  will  be  found  to  have  lost  its  sweetness  and 
assumed  the  sickening  feverish  smell  generally,  if  not  always,  found  in  the  Texas  cattle, 
which  1  can  best  describe  by  comparing  it  to  the  smell  of  our  slaughter-houses,  or  con 
stantly  crowded  stock-yards  in  cities.  From  this  condition  in  one  or  two  days  the  fever 
gains  its  highest  stage,  and  is  found  to  have  disseminated  itself  over  the  whole  body,  the 
heat  being  very  great;  the  arteries  of  the  neck  are  seen  to  beat  in  short,  heavy  throbs; 
the  ears  becoming  very  much  lopped;  the  hinder  parts  reel  in  walking,  the  animal  getting 
up  or  lying  down  with  difficulty ;  the  breath  and  exhalations  are  very  disagreeable ;  the  end 
of  the  tail  usually  hollow  for  two  or  three  inches;  the  pith  in  the  horn  has  commenced  to 
decay,  if  not  already  decayed;  the  animal  refusing  to  notice  the  herd,  remaining  stupid,  if 
not  disturbed,  neither  seeking  food  nor  water.  Some,  in  this  stage,  will  pass  water  mixed 
with  blood,  and  dung  naturally,  others  will  pass  water  of  a  natural  color  and  not  dung  at 
all,  or  but  very  little,  and  that  in  a  dryish  lump.  In  another  type  of  the  disease,  which 
will  occur  perhaps  in  every  eighth  or  tenth  case,  after  being  taken  the  same  way,  and 
having  the  same  symptoms  as  those  described,  even  to  the  hollow  horns  and  tail,  the 
animal  does  not  get  weak,  sluggish,  or  stupid,  but  is  always  to  be  found  on  its  feet,  in  a 
watchful  attitude,  with  head  turning  to  any  noise,  which,  if  close  by,  it  rushes  toward, 


188  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

even  through  fences  or  against  trees,  the  eyes  being  of  a  green  cast,  very  glaring  and  wild; 
those  of  the  first  type  have  a  dead,  sleepy,  and  glazed  appearance.  Both  these  classes 
die,  as  I  have  described  them,  without  any  change,  except  that  the  hair  deadens  before 
death  and  has  the  appearance  of  that  on  a  dry  hide. 

"The  drove  mentioned  as  having  passed  through  the  county  in  1853,  was  owned  by 
Mr.  Richard  Burris,  of  Spring  River.  They  were  driven  from  Texas  the  fall  previous  and 
wintered  about  fifty  miles  south  of  here,  near  Sarcoxie.  In  the  early  part  of  June  Mr. 
Burris  came  into  this  county  with  his  cattle,  apparently  healthy,  in  good  order,  and  no 
lame  ones  in  the  drove,  numbering  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  head.  He  made  a  slow 
passage  through  the  county,  grazing  on  the  best  grasses  near  the  road  unmolested,  as  no 
one  knew  at  this  time  that  this  species  of  cattle  communicated  a  disease  to  ours.  Early 
in  July  the  fever  broke  out  on  the  road  traveled  by  this  drove,  lasting  until  the  frost  put 
a  stop  to  it,  with  the  fatality  previously  mentioned.  As  the  disease  this  year  was  in  no 
other  locality  except  where  these  cattle  were  driven  and  grazed,  the  citizens,  after  care 
fully  tracing  their  route  through  the  county,  in  all  its  windings,  came  to  the  conclusion, 
for  the  first  time,  that  this  fever  was  engendered  from  the  Texas  cattle.  This  was  fully 
verified  in  the  next  year ;  and  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  hundreds  of  cases  occurred 
to  prove  that  they  were  not  mistaken.  IS'o  Texas  cattle,  until  this  year,  (1866,)  except 
two  yoke  of  oxen  worked  here  in  the  fall  of  1865  by  Mrs.  Box,  have  passed  into  or 
through  this  county  since  1860;  neither  has  there  been  a  case  of  Spanish  fever  during 
this  period,  or  any  other  fatality  among  our  cattle.  Mrs.  Box's  oxen,  so  far  as  could  be 
seen,  were  healthy,  and  not  lame.  The  neighbors  whose  cattle"  came  in  contact  with 
these  oxen  were  Mrs.  Smalley,  Mr.  Cothran,  and  Mr.  Packard,  all  having  the  Spanish 
fever  among  their  stock,  and  losing  some  notwithstanding  the  lateness  of  the  season.  About 
three  thousand  head  of  Texas  cattle  passed  through  this  county  in  the  month  of  June, 
in  18G6,  and  a  portion  of  them  reached  six  or  eight  miles  into  Bates,  the  adjoining 
county,  before  being  turned  back  by  citizens  of  that  county.  They  returned  on  the 
same  road  previously  traveled,  making  no  delay  in  their  passage  either  way  more 
than  was  necessary.  The  disease  did  not  break  out  for  some  six  weeks  after  the  passage 
of  the  droves — many  more  recovering  than  usual,  and  about  forty  per  cent,  dying — 
extending  into  Bates  County  to  the  point  where  they  were  turned  back.  It  proved  more 
fatal  on  the  crossings  of  water-courses,  killing  about  seventy  per  cent.  In  1858  my  stock 
were  exposed  to  this  fever  by  coming  in  contact  with  a  drove  of  Texas  cattle.  The  fever 
was  very  bad  among  them,  one  or  two  dying  every  day  through  the  month  of  August; 
they  were  in  daily  contact  with  Mr.  Millender's  stock,  who  kept  a  herder,  not  suffering 
them  to  reach  the  ground  that  had  been  used  by  the  Texas  droves,  yet  he  had  not  a  single 
case  of  fever.  When  spoken  to  about  keeping  my  stock  from  coming  in  contact  with  his, 
he  told  me  there  was  no  danger  of  our  own  cattle  diseasing  one  another.  I  have  since 
watched  many  such  exposures,  and  in  no  case  has  the  fever  been  propagated.  The 
farmers  have  each  an  opinion  as  to  how  the  disease  was  propagated  to  their  cattle,  some 
thinking  it  is  through  the  lame  ones,  a  few  of  which  will  be  found  in  almost  every  drove 
coming  from  Texas.  Their  feet  become  worn  out  and  sore  from  long  travel,  matter  forms 
between  the  hoofs  and  is  left  on  the  ground  and  in  the  water  through  which  they  pass, 
and,  it  is  contended,  this  inoculates  our  cattle  by  being  taken  in  the  stomach  or  otherwise. 
Others  think  it  is  done  by  the  excrements  left  by  those  that  are  lame  or  diseased,  while 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  EEPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER.  189 

some  think  it  is  through  the  slobber  or  froth  which  is  left  on  the  grass.  On  one  thing 
they  agree,  that  the  fever  is  communicated  in  some  way,  raging  until  the  cold  weather 
puts  a  stop  to  it,  no  remedy  appearing  to  have  any  effect.  From  the  few  cases  mentioned, 
which  are  selected  from  many  of  like  nature,  I  have  been  led  to  believe,  first,  that  the 
disease  is  conveyed  to  our  cattle  by  those  from  Texas;  second,  that  the  feeding  of  a  large 
herd  one  winter  in  this  climate  does  not  prevent  the  spread  of  the  infection  from  them  the 
next  season;  third,  that  Texas  cattle,  in  apparent  good  health,  give  disease  to  ours; 
fourth,  that  the  disease  is  not  contagious  from  our  own  cattle  to  each  other;  fifth,  that 
killing  frost  will  stop  the  disease;  sixth,  that  no  remedy  has  been  found  to  cure  this 
fever. 

"  By  a  very  close  observation  of  this  disease  among  my  own  and  neighbors'  stock  for 
the  last  thirteen  years,  I  have  generally  found,  on  opening  those  that  had  died,  but  very 
little  blood,  and  the  following  results  :  In  those  that  passed  water  mixed  with  blood  the 
kidneys  and  surrounding  parts  were  entirely  decayed,  the  other  parts  of  the  body 
sound;  those  that  did  not  dung  at  all,  or  but  little,  with  manifolds  perfectly  dry  and 
partly  decayed,  while  the  large  stomach  would  be  more  or  less  mortified,  other  parts 
healthy;  those  that  appeared  to  dung  and  pass  water  naturally,  with  a  liver  more  or 
less  decayed,  the  gall  always  swelled  to  its  greatest  tension;  other  parts  healthy; 
those  that  were  on  their  feet  in  a  watchful  attitude,  the  brain  was  found  more  or  less 
decayed.  This  leads  me  to  believe  the  disease  is  in  the  blood,  which  finally  becomes 
congestive,  destroying  the  parts  in  a  few  hours  after  it  becomes  seated,  and  no  doubt  in 
many  cases  could  be  cured  if  we  knew  exactly  where  it  had  located  itself,  blood-letting 
not  being  sufficient  of  itself  to  check  the  inflammation.  The  hollow  horn  and  tail  no  doubt 
is  caused  by  the  fever  destroying  the  blood  in  the  extremities  before  it  does  in  the  vessels, 
which  it.  does,  in  a  great  measure,  before  death.  The  present  law  is  very  defective. 
First,  it  only  precludes  the  sick  ones  from  passing  through  the  county,  and  few  men  under 
oath  can  say  that  because  a  steer  has  an  unhealthy  smell  he  is  sick;  second,  in  order  to 
separate  the  lame  or  sick  ones,  if  any,  the  drovers,  under  the  present  law,  are  required 
to  impound  them  in  order  that  the  selection  may  be  made,  &c.  But  it  is  little  use  to 
select  the  sick  ones  when  there  is  equal  danger  from  those  that  are  apparently  well." 

Mr.  Nathan  Bray,  of  Mount  Vernon,  Lawrence  County,  Mo.,  attested  to  the  infec 
tion  of  whole  districts  in  Southern  Missouri  from  1853  to  1868,  except  during  the  period 
of  the  exclusion  of  southern  cattle  by  the  late  war.  He  states  that  immediately  after 
possession  of  Forts  Smith  and  Gibson  had  been  regained,  the  traffic  was  renewed,  and 
the  farmers  along  the  military  road  in  Kansas  suffered  losses  of  cattle.  Away  from  the 
route  traveled  by  Texas  cattle  no  such  losses  occurred.  Soon  these  cattle  were  distribu 
ted  through  the  interior,  and,  as  a  result,  heavy  losses  of  horned  stock  were  sustained.  Mr. 
B.  declares  untrue  the  statement  that  the  Texas  cattle  do  not  themselves  have  the  disease, 
and  states  that  he  has  seen  many  sicken  and  die  with  it. 

Mr.  William  Montgomery,  of  Stockton,  Missouri,  a  dealer  in  cattle,  stated  that  from 
1861  to  1865  there  were  no  Texas  cattle,  and  not  a  single  case  of  splenic  fever,  in  South 
west  Missouri. 

Mr.  Huron  Burt,  of  Galloway  County,  Missouri,  referred  to  a  lot  of  oxen  driven 
through  that  county  early  in  the  spring  of  1865,  and  states  that  wherever  they  grazed  a 
virus  was  left  which  infected  cattle  feeding  on  the  same  ground,  and  that  it  retained  its 


190  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

power  to  infect  until  the  rains  of  September  came.     Nine-tenths  of  those  affected  died. 
Several  gentleman  are  named,  each  of  whom  lost  his  entire  herd. 

The  loss  in  Newton  is  estimated  at  three  hundred  ;  in  McDonald  five  per  cent,  of  all 
native  cattle ;  in  St.  Louis  one  thousand  four  hundred  milch  cows  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  to  three  hundred  heifers  and  steers ;  in  Henry  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  ;  in 
Montgomery  forty-five,  and  but  three  recovered;  in  Mississippi  forty;  in  Bade  twenty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  stock;  and  small  losses  occurred  in  Benton,  Bates,  Butler,  Cedar,  Clark, 
and  Polk. 

Kentucky. — Occasional  outbreaks  of  splenic  fever  have  occurred  in  Kentucky,  origi 
nating  in  conjunction  with  the  importation  of  southern  cattle,  since  the  first  introduction 
of  such  stock.  In  Anderson  County,  in  1868,  the  disease  first  appeared  on  Salt  River. 
A  drove  of  southwestern  cattle  arrived  on  the  loth  of  May.  They  were  shipped  at  Bayou 
Sara,  Louisiana,  and  brought  up  the  river  to  Louisville  ;  ninety-six  head  were  received 
into  the  county  during  the  season,  all  in  fair  condition  and  apparently  healthy,  and  but 
one  sickened  subsequently,  about  the  1st  of  October,  which  recovered,  after  displaying  the 
same  symptoms  as  the  native  stock,  viz:  "loss  of  appetite,  droopiness,  stiffening  of  the 
joints,  contraction  of  the  muscles,  and  foaming  at  the  mouth,  shrinking  away  of  the  flesh, 
and  when  first  observed  they  are  generally  traveling  around  in  a  circle  until  they  get 
down  ;  most  of  them  showing  symptoms  attendant  upon  lock-jaw."  About  twenty  native 
cattle  died,  and  but  one  or  two  affected  with  the  disease  have  recovered,  most  of  them 
dying  within  twenty-four  hours  of  the  first  observable  symptoms.  One  farmer  claims  to 
have  cured  a  cow  by  administering  a  pint  of  whisky  as  a  dose.  The  disease  broke  out 
five  months  after  the  introduction  of  the  foreign  cattle,  and  was  only  communicated  to 
animals  fed  in  pastures  which  had  been  occupied  by  southern  herds,  and  no  case  has  oc 
curred  of  the  infection  of  one  native  by  another. 

In  Jefferson  County  the  disease  appeared  in  and  around  Portland.  Cattle  coming  by 
steamer  from  New  Orleans  and  by  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  began  to  arrive  during  the 
winter  months,  but  no  disease  broke  out  till  the  June  arrivals.  About  6,000  head  were 
received  into  the  country  during  the  season  of  1868,  all  apparently  healthy,  and  some  in 
such  good  condition  as  to  be  immediately  forwarded  to  the  New  York  market,  others  being 
sent  to  pasture.  About  fifty  or  sixty  native  cows  died  at  Portland,  (a  part  of  the  city  of 
Louisville,  and  one  of  the  principal  landing  and  crossing  places  for  Texan  stock  on  the 
Ohio  River.)  No  deaths  occurred  beyond  this  range,  and  no  secondary  infection  was  com 
municated. 

No  disease  has  occurred  in  Franklin  County  since  1866.  The  Texan  cattle,  coming 
by  the  turnpike  from  Louisville,  passed  through  the  county  in  June  or  July,  1866  ;  they 
were  very  thin  in  flesh  and  sore  in  the  feet,  but  otherwise  appeared  healthy.  None  of 
them  remained  to  be  fed  or  grazed  in  the  county.  About  one  week  elapsed  from  their 
introduction  to  the  outbreak  of  the  disease  among  the  native  stock,  of  which  about  twenty 
head  died,  being  all  that  were  attacked.  The  disease  was  communicated  to  animals  passing 
over  the  same  road  as  the  Texans.  but  no  case  occurred  of  infection  of  one  native  animal 
by  another. 

Texas  fever  prevailed  in  Henry  County  in  1859,  since  which  time  no  Texas  drove 
has  traversed  it  except  one  in  the  winter  of  1866,  which  communicated  no  disease. 

Infection  was  brought  to  Carroll  County  by  fifteen  head  of  Texan  cattle  coming  up 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER,  191 

the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers  from  Louisiana,  which  the  citizens  were  unwilling  to  receive 
until  assured  that  they  had  been  out  of  Texas  a  full  year.  They  did  not  understand  that 
they  might  as  safely  have  come  from  Texas  as  from  Louisiana.  The  outbreak  occurred 
seventy  to  seventy-five  days  from  their  arrival  among  cattle  pastured  with  them,  of  which 
ten  died  and  three  recovered. 

Illinois. — The  disease  first  made  its  appearance  at  Cairo,  about  the  10th  of  June, 
1868,  among  the  cows  of  the  town,  causing  much  fatality  and  pecuniary  loss  ;  but  it  did 
not  extend  through  the  county,  from  the  simple  fact  that  the  migrating  cattle  were  not 
distributed  through  the  country,  but  were  sent  northward  by  rail. 

The  heaviest  losses  occurred  in  Champaign  County,  where  fifteen  to  eighteen  thousand 
head  were  reshipped  or  distributed  from  Tolono,  the  junction  of  the  Illinois  Central  and 
Toledo  and  Wabash  Railroads.  The  number  lost  in  this  county  has  been  estimated  at  five 
thousand,  worth  $150,000  at  a  low  valuation.  Our  correspondent  reported  as  follows  : 
"  Spanish  fever  has  prevailed  in  this  county,  commencing  on  the  27th  day  of  July,  1868, 
and  cattle  have  continued  to  die  of  the  same  disease  up  to  January  1, 1869.  In  this  town 
ship  the  loss  is  ninety  per  cent,;  entire  county  seventy-five  per  cent.  It  is  a  blood  disease ; 
the  blood  under  a  powerful  glass  proves  this.  It  has  been  argued,  and  tried  to  be  proven, 
that  it  is  a  disease  not  easily  taken.  I  have  now  in  my  possession  a  large  amount  of  evi 
dence  from  good  men,  showing  it  to  be  a  disease  very  easily  given.  A  number  of  cases 
can  be  given  where  the  only  exposure  was  by  driving  a  short  distance  over  the  road  where 
Texas  cattle  had  passed,  from  tame  pasture  to  barn  lots,  the  natives  being  kept  up  all  the 
time  only  when  in  transit  from  lots  to  pasture.  Blood  examined  in  the  earliest  stages  of 
the  disease  shows  a  diseased  condition  of  the  same.  As  the  disease  progresses  from  day  to 
day  the  blood,  examined  by  a  good  glass,  shows  the  gradual  destruction  of  vitality,  and  at 
dissolution  is  a  mass  of  putridity." 

In  the  southern  part  of  Cook  County  the  disease,  communicated  by  contact  with  cattle 
shipped  to  Chicago,  prevailed  for  a  short  period  ;  in  Ford  County  the  loss  was  estimated  at 
five  hundred  head  ;  in  Grundy  one  hundred  died  in  a  single  town  ;  in  Douglas  there  were 
forty  fatal  cases  ;  in  Clinton  nineteen  ;  in  Du  Page  one  man  lost  eighteen  head  ;  fatal  cases 
were  also  reported  from  St.  Clair,  Pulaski,  Effingham,  Pope,  Massac,  Macon,and  Iroquois. 

Indiana. — A  drove  of  one  hundred  animals  coming  from  Texas,  by  water  via  New 
Orleans,  was  landed  at  Evansville,  and  after  a  stay  of  six  hours  taken  by  rail  into  the  inte 
rior.  They  appeared  to  be  in  good  condition  ;  none  died  on  the  way,  and  very  few  after 
reaching  their  destination  ;  but  the  symptoms  of  those  that  sickened  were  the  same,  a  day 
or  two  before  death,  as  those  of  the  native  stock  attacked.  Nearly  a  month  elapsed  from 
the  passage  of  the  Texas  drove  to  the  outbreak  among  the  native  stock,  of  which  fifty  died, 
only  one  case  (and  that  of  doubtful  convalescence)  is  known  to  have  recovered. 

In  July,  1868,  sixty  Texas  cattle  were  pastured  on  the  farm  of  S.  A.  Fletcher,  jr.; 
near  Indianapolis,  Indiana.  His  domestic  cattle  were  separated  by  a  fence  from  the  Texas 
stock,  and  watered  at  a  stream  flowing  through  their  pasture.  A  neighbor  had  thirty  cows 
in  a  pasture  also  adjoining  the  long  horns,  but  the  infected  water  did  not  pass  through  it. 
In  ten  days  two  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  cattle  died,  and  five  others  gave  evidence  of  the  disease, 
to  which  all  but  one  succumbed,  in  periods  ranging  from  twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours 
from  the  outward  manifestation  of  the  disease.  None  of  the  other  herd  were  attacked, 
though  the  cows  were  only  separated  by  a  fence  from  the  Texas  cattle. 


192  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

A  drove  of  Texan  cattle  from  New  Orleans  to  New  Albany  by  steamer,  crossed  White 
River  at  Wood's  Ferry,  five  of  which  died  near  that  point.  A  Mr.  Cobb  subsequently 
lost  eight  milch  cows  that  pastured  along  the  road  they  traveled.  A  Texas  steer  of  another 
lot  sickened  and  died,  the  symptoms  being  profuse  bloody  discharges  from  the  bowels,  ears 
drooping,  and  a  generally  dull,  stupid  appearance.  From  two  thousand  to  two  thousand 
five  hundred  Texas  cattle  were  received  by  steamer  from  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River. 
They  were  apparently  healthy  on  their  arrival,  though  in  poor  condition  ;  some  died  on  the 
way  up.  Few  of  the  Texan  cattle  died  at  New  Albany.  About  three  weeks  elapsed 
from  the  introduction  of  the  Texan  cattle  to  the  outbreak  of  the  disease  among  the  native 
stock,  of  which  seventy-four  died  out  of  eighty-one  attacked.  The  disease  was  only 
communicated  to  animals  fed  on  the  pastures  occupied  by  the  Texan  cattle ;  in  pastures 
adjoining  the  cattle  remained  healthy  ;  and  no  positive  case  has  been  reported  of  the 
infection  of  one  native  animal  by  another. 

About  three  hundred  were  received  in  Washington  County,  coming  up  the  Ohio  in 
boats  to  Louisville  and  New  Albany.  Some  came  in  March,  others  as  late  as  June.  No 
disease  was  communicated  to  natives.  About  four  hundred  cattle  were  received  in  Bar 
tholomew  County,  coming  by  boat  up  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers  to  New  Albany, 
thence  overland,  beginning  to  arrive  in  May.  There  was  no  infection  of  native  stock. 

In  Warren  County  about  four  thousand  head  of  Texan  cattle  were  received  in  or 
driven  through  the  county,  coming  either  by  the  railroad  or  driven  from  Cairo,  Illinois. 
After  being  landed  from  the  steamer,  some  were  poor,  others  in  good  condition.  Some 
were  taken  off  the  cars  dead,  but  this  was  supposed  to  be  owing  to  bad  treatment.  The 
Texan  cattle  commenced  to  arrive  about  the  1st  of  June,  and  the  fever  appeared  about  the 
25th  of  July.  About  one  thousand  five  hundred  of  the  native  stock  died,  being  about  nine- 
tenths  of  the  whole  number  attacked.*  - 


*  James  Park,  of  Williamsport,  Warren  County,  Indiana,  gives  the  following  particulars,  in  a  letter  to  Gov.  Baker,  of  one 
of  tlie  principal  of  the  infected  herds  sent  east : 

"  On  the  27th  day  of  April,  1868,  a  herd  of  nine  hundred  and  thirty  head  of  Texas  cattle  was  purchased  in  Colorado  County, 
:as.  They  were  driven  to  the  month  of  the  Red  River,  a  distance  of  about  six  hundred  miles,  reaching-  that  point  May  31, 
8.  They  were  at  once  shipped  from  that  point  on  steamhoats,  and  arrived  at  Cairo,  Illinois,  June  4,  1868.  From  thence 


Texas. 

1868.     They  were  at  once  shipped 

they  were  shipped  on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  reached  Tolono,  Illinois,  June  7,  1808.     From  this  point  they  were 

driven  into  Warren  County,  Indiana,  a  distance  of  about  sixty  miles.     They  came  into  the  western  boundary  of  Warren  County 

on  the  12th  of  June,  1868.     There  was  a  loss  of  forty-four  head,  only  eight  hundred  and  eighty-six  of  the  nine  hundred  and 

thirty  head  reaching  Warren  County.     These  cattle  were  from  four  to  six  years  old,  all  apparently  in  good  condition,  nothing 

indicating  any  disease  whatever.     There  were  ticks  on  very  many  of  them. 

"This  herd  of  Texan  cattle  on  the  12th  day  of  June,  1868,  passed  over  a  certain  piece  of  prairie  pasture  on  the  western 
boundary  of  this  county,  (Warren.)  On  the  19th  day  of  June  a  lot  of  native  cattle,  numbering  ninety-five  head,  weighing  over 
one  thousand  three  hundred  pounds  each,  was  permitted  to  graze  upon  the  same  pasture,  and  continued  to  feed  upon  the  same 
until  the  4th  of  August  One  of  the  herd  was  noticed  to  be  sick  on  the  28th  of  July,  and,  up  to  the  4th  of  August,  eleven  were 
sick  and  three  had  died.  On  the  4th  of  August  eighty-four  of  this  lot  of  ninety-five  were  driven  to  the  West  Lebanon  station  of 
the  Toledo  and  Wabush  Railroad,  and  shipped  for  the  New  York  market.  There  were  eleven  head  of  another  lot  that  had  not 
been  on  this  pasture,  or  in  any  way  exposed  to  the  Texas  cattle  shipped  with  the  eighty-four.  None  of  the  eleven  head  were 
taken  sick  on  the  road  to  New  York,  but  the  sickness  was  confined  to  the  eighty-four  head  exposed  to  the  Texas  cattle,  at  least 
herded  upon  pasture  passed  over  by  the  Texas  cattle. 

"  On  the  night  of  the  12th  of  June,  1868,  this  lot  of  Texan  cattle  herded  on  another  piece  of  prairie  where  a  lot  of  one 
hundred  head  of  native  cattle  were  feeding.  On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  June  the  Texan  cattle  were  driven  to  the  north  ot 
the  county.  Fifty -five  of  the  one  hundred  head  of  the  native  cattle  were  three  years  old,  the  rest  were  one  and  two — all  in  good 
growing  condition. 

"On  the  night  of  the  12th  of  June,  1868,  there  were  twenty-six  head  of  native  fat  cattle  in  an  adjoining  inclosure  to  the 
ground  occupied  by  the  Texan  cattle.  About  four  weeks  after  the  12th  of  June,  these  twenty-six  fat  cattle  broke  out  of  their 
inclosure  and  grazed  upon  thepiairie  where  the  Texan  cattle  had  been  on  the  night  of  June  12.  On  the  2S)th  of  July,  one  of  the 
twenty-six  was  discovered  to  be  sick,  and  died  on  the  night  of  July  31  On  the  1st  day  of  August,  two  of  the  one  hundred 
head  died,  and  some  twenty-five  more  were  sick.  From  that  time  up  to  the  present,  the  entire  herd  have  been  taken  sick, 
eighty-eight  head  out  of  the  one  hundred  have  died;  twenty-two  out  of  the  twenty-six  have  also  died;  total,  one  hundred  and 
ten  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six.  The  remaining  sixteen  head  have  all  been  sick,  and  are  now  very  poor  and  stupid,  but 
have  the  appearance  of  getting  well. 

"As  a  fact,  wherever  native  cattle  have  passed  over  ground  where  this  Texan  herd  have  been,  the  native  cattle  have 
sickened  and  died.  It  is  also  a  fact  that  other  Texan  cattle  have  been  brought  into  this  county,  have  been  herded  with  native 
cattle  two  months,  and,  as  yet,  no  disease  lias  made  its  appearance." 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER,  193 

The  first  arrival  of  southern  cattle  in  Jasper  County  was  between  the  25th  of  May  and 
the  1st  of  June,  and  six  thousand  eight  hundred  were  received  during  the  season,  coming  from 
the  Red  River  country  up  the  Mississippi  via  Cairo,  Illinois.  About  forty -two  days  elapsed 
from  their  introduction  to  the  outbreak  among  the  native  stock,  of  which  four  hundred 
died,  or  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  attacked.  The  disease  was  only  com 
municated  to  animals  fed  on  pastures  soiled  by  the  excrements  of  the  southern  cattle,  and 
no  case  occurred  of  the  infection  of  one  native  animal  by  another.  In  one  instance,  in 
June,  a  small  drove  of  Texan  cattle  was  driven  across  the  grazing  ground  of  a  native  herd  ; 
the  drovers  pushed  them  across  as  fast  as  practicable,  not  allowing  them  to  stop.  In  six 
weeks  the  native  cattle  in  that  range  were  taken  sick,  and  several  died.  About  six 
hundred  head  of  cattle,  which  had  wintered  in  the  Louisiana  marshes,  passed  through 
Jasper  County  about  the  25th  of  May.  They  were  very  thin,  and  about  thirty  died  on  the 
road.  The  disease  broke  out  among  the  native  cattle  in  from  seven  to  eight  weeks,  and 
fifty  head  died,  being  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  number  attacked. 

About  eight  hundred  head  of  Texan  and  Cherokee  cattle  were  herded  in  the  adjoining 
county,  and  four  hundred  natives  died  from  coming  in  contact  with  them  or  their  trail,  and 
the  citizens  of  Jasper  County  would  not  permit  them  to  enter  that  county  unless  the  owners 
deposited  money  to  make  all  damages  good.  The  loss  was  heaviest  among  the  milch  cows. 

On  the  20th  of  July  a  lot  of  four  hundred  Texan  cattle  were  purchased  in  Chicago 
and  driven  through  Lake  County,  stopping  over  night  in  the  prairie  west  of  town,  all  in 
apparently  good  health.  All  the  native  cattle  which  fed  upon  or  ran  over  that  prairie 
were  attacked  in  about  twenty-eight  days,  and  sixty  died ;  only  four  or  five  recovering. 
No  other  southern  cattle  passed  through  the  county,  and  no  other  outbreak  occurred. 

In  Marion  County  about  one  hundred  died  of  splenic  fever ;  and  some  losses  occurred 
in  Hendricks,  Lawrence.  Newton,  and  White.  Our  correspondent  in  Benton  reports  the 
loss  of  four  hundred  to  six  hundred  head,  and  makes  a  statement  which  conflicts  with  the 
uniform  testimony  from  other  sections,  and  which  therefore  should  be  taken  with  allowance 
for  a  possible  misapprehension  of  the  facts,  so  far  as  it  favors  the  idea  that  the  infection 
can  be  carried  by  the  wind.  It  is  as  follows  :  "In  a  neighboring  county  a  herd  of  Texas 
cattle  were  driven  about  eight  miles  along  a  road,  and,  the  wind  being  from  the  south, 
cattle  along  on  the  north  side  of  the  road  took  the  disease,  without  either  being  driven 
along  the  road  traveled  by  the  Texas  cattle,  or  drinking  water  that  had  been  exposed  in 
any  manner.  These  facts  induce  the  belief  that  the  disease  was  communicated  by  the 
wind/'  Joseph  Poole,  of  Attica,  Indiana,  reports  the  case  of  a  cow  which  took  the  disease 
in  fifty-one  days  after  Texas  cattle  had  passed  by  the  inclosure,  which  was  separated  from 
them  by  a  board  fence.  Another  cow  in  the  same  inclosure  was  not  infected.  It  is  not 
impossible  that  contact  was  effected  through  openings  in  the  fence;  otherwise  infection 
must  have  been  carried  in  the  air,  as  the  animal  was  at  no  time  outside  of  the  inclosure. 
He  gives  another  instance,  occurring  five  miles  from  the  depot,  forty-seven  days  after 
exposure  to  Texas  cattle  passing  along  the  road,  a  fence  separating  the  native  cow  from  the 
traveling  herd. 

Ohio. — Thousands  of  Texas  cattle  have  been  carried  through  this  State  in  the  cars, 
usually  after  pasturage  in  States  further  west  for  a  sufficient  time  to  eliminate  the  infectious 
matter  from  the  system,  and  almost  invariably  without  reshipmcnt.     Hence  the  disease  is 
little  known  in  this  State. 
25 


194  DEPABTMENT  OP  AGBICULTURE. 

Several  infected  cows  were  brought  from  one  of  the  western  counties  to  Columbiana, 
where  they  all  died,  but  did  not  communicate  the  disease  to  others.  A  few  cases  appeared 
in  Hamilton  County  ;  ten  or  twelve  deaths  occurred  in  Greene,  from  exposure  to  passing 
Texan  stock ;  and  in  Wyandot  a  loss  of  six  occurred  in  two  car-loads  brought  from 
Chicago. 

New  York. — This  State  received  many  Texas  cattle,  some  of  which  were  in  condition 
to  communicate  disease,  yet  such  were  the  precautions  taken  by  the  State  commissioners, 
Messrs.  M.  R.  Patrick,  Lewis  P.  Alden.  and  J.  Stanton  Gould,  and  the  metropolitan 
board  of  health,  that  outbreaks  occurred  at  only  few  points.  Quarantines  were  estab 
lished  at  Buffalo,  Erie,  and  Jameston,  ar.d  a  rigid  inspection  of  all  animals  coming  into 
the  State  by  rail  was  vigorously  enforced. 

A  lot  of  eighteen  Illinois  cattle  was  brought  to  Sing  Sing,  July  30,  six  of  which 
died  in  a  few  days,  and  others,  believed  to  be  diseased,  were  slaughtered  and  disposed  of. 

A  lot  of  sixty-five  western  cattle,  driven  from  West  Albany,  August  9,  lost  one  at 
Copake,  Columbia  County,  August  17,  and  four  at  Millerton,  Dutchess  County,  between 
August  14  and  19. 

At  Campville,  on  the  Erie  road,  the  disease  appeared  August  9,  and  eighteen  or 
twenty  head  of  western  cattle,  taken  from  the  cars  on  the  previous  day,  died  within  a 
few  hours. 

A  lot  of  eighty-three  head  was  shipped,  August  3,  from  Arrow  Rock,  Saline  County, 
Missouri,  and  at  St.  Louis  two  cattle  were  added  to  the  herd,  which  arrived  at  Bull's 
Head,  New  York,  August  19.  On  the  22d,  the  two  from  St.  Louis  were  taken  sick  and 
subsequently  killed,  revealing  strong  indications  of  the  disease.  It  does  not  appear  that 
any  of  the  eighty-three  were  infected. 

One  of  a  lot  of  nineteen  head  of  Illinois  cattle  was  killed  at  Bull's  Head,  September 
19,  and  found  to  be  diseased.  The  others  were  quarantined,  but  none  were  diseased. 

September  12,  twelve  cattle  died  at  Pier  12,  East  River,  on  the  steamer  Pah  Kee, 
and  subsequently  five  more;  the  remaining  twenty-three  survived  the  quarantine.  The 
post  mortem  appearances  were  unmistakably  those  of  the  Texan  cattle  disease. 

During  September,  isolated  cases  occurred  which  proved  to  be  identical  in  character 
with  those  already  mentioned. 

Travel-worn  Texas  cattle  were  quarantined  and  subsequently  discharged.  When 
killed  for  beef,  the  spleens  were  generally  larger  and  darker  than  those  of  northern 
cattle,  and  old  cicatrices  of  the  abomasum  appeared,  and  signs  of  erosions  and  con 
gestions'. 

In  October,  "a  number  of  sudden  deaths"  occurred  at  Hamptonburgh,  in  Orange 
County,  attributed  to  the  Texas  cattle  disease,  assumed  to  have  been  taken  from  other 
native  cattle  brought  from  Painesville  and  other  points  in  Ohio.  Dr.  Morris,  Mr.  Gould, 
and  Dr.  Montfort,  made  post  mortem  examinations  of  two  heifers,  and  Dr.  M.  afterward 
examined  a  cow;  and  these  gentlemen  entertained  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  Texas 
disease.  The  commissioners  report  the  fact  as  follows :  "August  25,  forty-four  cows  and 
heifers,  purchased  at  different  places  in  Ohio,  arrived  at  Hamptonburg,  and  one  died 
a  few  hours  after  arrival.  Pour  days  after,  two  of  the  cows  were  turned  into  the  dairy 
pasture  of  John  Moul,  where  they  remained  till  September  1,  and,  on  the  8th,  one  of 
them  died,  the  other  on  the  10th.  On  the  12th,  thirteen  days  after  exposure,  one  of  the 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  UEL'OKT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER.  K)5 

cows  in  the  pasture  of  Mr.  Moul  was  taken  sick,  and  died  on  the  13th.  On  the  14th,  a 
second  cow  was  attacked,  and  died  on  the  following  day.  A  third  cow  sickened  on  the 
18th,  and  died  the  same  day.  No  examinations  were  made.  The  two  cows  of  the  original 
herd  were  buried  in  a  pasture  in  which  were  two  pairs  of  oxen  and  two  heifers.  In  about 
two  weeks  one  of  the  oxen  became  sick,  but  recovered ;  another  ox  was  found  dead  in  the 
pasture,  and  subsequently  both  of  the  heifers.  A  post  mortem  examination  revealed  large 
livers  and  spleens,  and  engorged  and  softened  kidneys.  These  symptoms  suggest  splenic 
fever;  but  is  it  positively  ascertained  that  one  of  the  cows  placed  in  Mr.  Moul's  pasture 
was  not  a  Texan?  The  forty-four  cows  of  the  two  car-loads  have  been  traced  to  different 
points:  seventeen  to  Hambden,  Lake  County,  Ohio,  eleven  to  Huntington,  Lorain  County, 
nine  to  Clarksfield,  two  to  Wakeman.  three  to  Plymouth,  and  one  of  the  two  others  came 
from  Kentucky.  It  is  but  just  to  say  that  Dr.  K.  V.  K.  Montfort,  who  reports  the  case, 
thinks,  from  conversations  with  dealers  who  saw  the  cattle,  that  there  were  no  Texans 
among  them.  Yet  no  positive  evidence  to  that  effect  has  been  presented;  and  a  shadow 
of  doubt  must  continue  to  rest  upon  the  case,  while  it  is  undeniable  that  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  exposures  of  cattle  to  sick  natives  have  been  attended  with  perfect  immunity 
from  disease  in  many  latitudes  and  through  many  years. 

New  Jersey. — A  large  number  of  Texas  and  Indiana  cattle  were  brought  into  the 
cattle-yards  and  abattoirs  of  Hudson  County  in  August,  sick  with  Spanish  fever.  The 
State  agricultural  society  forbade  any  more  being  brought  into  the  State ;  and  those  sick 
were  quarantined,  and,  after  a  thorough  examination,  were  put  into  rendering  vats,  and 
the  yards  and  pens  disinfected  with  carbolic  acid.  No  disease  appeared  afterward. 
Three  inspectors  were  appointed  by  the  State  Society,  who  quarantined  all  the  suspected 
cattle  on  arrival. 

August  9,  one  hundred  and  forty-one  of  Mr.  Alexander's  cattle,  sent  from  Homer, 
Illinois,  on  the  last  day  of  July,  were  sacrificed  at  the  rendering  tanks  to  avoid  all  risk 
of  public  injury  by  the  sale  of  the  flesh.  Post  'mortem  examinations  proved  the  existence 
of  the  disease  in  many  of  them. 

An  arrival  of  about  seventy  infected  cattle,  a  portion  of  the  Campville  lot,  at  the  Bergen 
yards,  Hudson  City,  was  reported  to  Governor  Ward  on  the  10th  of  August,  and  on  the 
following  day  the  sanitary  commissioner,  Dr.  Stephen  Smith,  found  fifteen  animals  in  a 
dying  condition.  These  animals  were  a  part  of  the  lot  of  eighty-four  which  were  shipped, 
August  4,  reported  in  the  letter  of  James  Park,  (quoted  in  a  note  on  page  192,)  from  West 
Lebanon  Station,  Indiana,  and  were  a  part  of  the  drove  of  nine  hundred  and  thirty 
starting,  April  27,  from  Colorado  County,  Texas,  and  driven  six  hundred  miles  to  the 
mouth  of  Red  River,  reaching  that  point  May  31,  for  shipment  up  the  Mississippi  by 
steamboat. 

Pennsylvania. — A  lot  of  western  cattle  were  driven  through  Westmoreland  County, 
stopping  over  night  on  a  farm  three  miles  south  of  Greensburg.  Some  eight  or  ten  head 
took  sick  during  the  night  and  were  left  with  the  farmer  to  be  killed.  The  symptoms 
were  said  to  be  those  of  splenic  fever. 

Georgia. — A  disease  supposed  to  be  the  splenic  fever  prevailed  in  several  counties ; 
among  them  are  named  Chattooga,  Hall,  and  Pulaski. 


196  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

RECENT  INFORMATION. 

The  passage  of  laws  to  prevent  the  summer  driving  of  southern  cattle,  and  their 
strict  enforcement,  have  limited  the  losses  from  this  disease  in  a  marked  degree.  A  few 
cases  have  been  reported  in  1870.  One  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  furnishes 
another  illustration  of  the  invariable  and  peculiar  features  of  this  disease.  In  1869  a  lot 
of  cattle  from  North  Carolina  stopped  at  Avondale ;  soon  after  they  had  left,  other  cattle 
turned  into  the  meadow  they  had  occupied  became  sick.  Some  twenty  were  attacked 
and  about  three-fourths  of  them  died.  No  other  cattle  were  turned  into  the  same  inclo- 
sure  and  the  disease  did  not  spread  further.  Many  believed  the  ticks,  which  infected  the 
North  Carolina  cattle,  and  were  communicated  to  the  natives  attacked,  caused  the  disease. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  these  parasites  have  anything  to  do  with  its  diffusion  or  virulence. 

Our  correspondent  in  St.  Louis  County,  Missouri,  says:  "We  had  no  Spanish  fever 
last  year,  Texas  cattle  being  effectually  kept  out  by  the  provisions  of  our  law  during  the 
season  they  would  be  likely  to  spread  contagion."  In  Benton  County,  "there  has  been 
no  loss  by  Spanish  fever.  The  vigilance  of  the  people  and  stringent  legal  enactments  have 
prevented  the  introduction  or  the  transit  of  Texas  cattle  through  this  county."  "  Owing 
to  the  stringent  laws  of  this  State,  but  one  small  drove  of  cattle  direct  from  Texas,  succeeded 
in  entering  or  passing  through  this  county  (Vernon)  last  summer.  This  drove  passed 
hastily  along  the  east  border  of  this  county  a  short  distance,  through  a  district  sparsely 
settled  and  containing  but  a  few  cows,  oxen,  &c.,  for  home  use.  The  Spanish  fever  broke 
out  about  six  weeks  after  their  passage,  and  continued  until  after  two  or  three  white  frosts 
in  October,  when  it  ceased  to  spread,  and  those  with  fever  at  the  time  mostly  recovered. 
About  forty-four  per  cent,  of  the  cattle  which  grazed  on  the  grounds  this  drove  passed  over 
had  the  fever,  two-thirds  of  which  died,  the  remainder  slowly  recovering.  No  other  drove 
is  reported  as  having  entered  the  county  till  after  frost  had  killed  the  vegetation.  Many 
thousand  then  passed  through  without  a  known  case  of  fever."  A  report  from  Bates  says : 
'  There  has  been  no  Spanish  fever.  The  inhabitants  of  the  county  are  organized  and  will 
not  allow  cattle  to  be  driven  through,  although  the  laws  of  the  State  allow  them  to  come 
in  from  December  to  April.  I  have  known  of  two  herds  being  driven  over  in  the  winter, 
one  in  1867,  the  other  in  1869,  and  in  both  instances  many  of  the  native  cattle  which 
came  in  contact  with  them  died  of  the  disease  a  short  time  after  grass  became  of  full  bite." 
This  instance  appears  to  invalidate  the  certainty  of  exemption  from  infection  received 
through  stock  introduced  from  the  South  in  winter. 

Last  summer  tens  of  thousands  of  Texas  cattle  were  driven  into  the  southwestern 
part  of  Butler  County,  Kansas.  There  were  but  few  domestic  cattle  in  that  locality,  but 
they  all  died.  Several  herds  of  Texas  cattle,  brought  direct,  during  the  past  winter,  from 
Texas  and  the  Indian  Territory,  have  been  pastured  and  fed  in  Jefferson,  Kansas,  among 
some  of  which  were  occasional  losses,  but  none  could  be  clearly  charged  to  Spanish  fever. 
Our  correspondent  says  :  "I  have  wintered  (1869)  a  herd  in  my  pastures  in  which,  after 
ward,  my  Durham  cattle  fed,  and  no  harm  has  been  witnessed."  In  Franklin,  Kansas, 
the  splenic  fever  appeared  about  the  1st  of  September.  About  one  hundred  head  of 
native  cattle  died,  mostly  cows.  The  infection  was  taken  from  a  drove  of  Texas  cattle 
passing  through  the  county.  It  is  reported  from  Shawnee,  in  the  same  State,  that  the 
disease  has  not  prevailed  since  the  shipment  exclusively  of  Texas  cattle  by  rail  from 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER.  197 

Abilene.  The  law  preventing  the  herding  of  Texas  cattle  in  summer  has  been  generally 
enforced,  so  that  few  points  have  been  infected. 

A  few  cases  are  reported  in  Washington  County,  Nebraska. 

The  Missouri  law  has  been  well  enforced  ;  but  a  few  droves  went  through  Greene  and 
Cedar,  communicating  the  disease,  which  resulted  fatally. 

There  has  been  some  splenic  fever  in  St.  Francis,  Arkansas,  caused  by  permitting 
native  stock  to  be  penned  in  lots  used  by  Texas  cattle  passing  through  the  county ;  loss 
very  light. 

A  lot  of  Texas  cattle  brought  into  Washington  County,  Virginia,  communicated 
disease  to  the  native  stock,  resulting  in  one  hundred  and  fifty  deaths.  The  disease  is  now 
fatal  in  Salem,  Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  and  sixty-seven  deaths  have  been  reported  of 
cattle  owned  by  nineteen  farmers  and  villagers;  the  loss  amounting  to  $3,000.  It  is  traced 
in  every  case  to  contact  with  Texan  cattle.  The  people  of  the  village  express  a  determi 
nation  not  to  allow  another  carload  to  disembark  there. 

LAWS  RELATIVE  TO  DISEASES  OF  FARM  ANIMALS. 

In  closing  this  partial  history  of  the  Texas  cattle  disease  in  the  United  States,  a  brief 
digest  of  the  laws  relating  to  it  may  be  appropriate.  Several  of  the  States  have  enactments 
bearing  upon  all  contagious  and  infectious  diseases,  without  a  distinct  specification  of  any  one ; 
and  others  have  laws  relating  mainly  to  pleuro-pneumonia,  while  including  other  diseases. 
Greater  uniformity  in  their  legal  requirements  and  restrictions  is  desirable.  This  digest  is 
condensed  from  a  more  extended  statement  in  the  Report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for 
1869.  Either  the  general  Government  should  enact  a  law  providing  for  the  suppression  of 
contagious  diseases  of  farm  stock  and  for  the  regulation  of  the  transportation  and  movement 
of  farm  animals,  or  the  State  governments  should  be  induced  to  act  simultaneously  and  har 
moniously  on  the  subject.  Pleuro-pneumonia  has  a  dangerous  footing  among  the  cattle  of 
the  Middle  States,  and  is  spreading  south,  and  is  liable  to  scatter  contagion  among  western 
herds  from  which  come  the  principal  meat  supplies  of  eastern  cities.  It  is  far  more  to  be 
dreaded  than  the  splenic  fever  communicated  by  Texas  cattle,  as  that  infection  does  not 
pass  in  continuous  progression  through  one  sick  animal  after  another.  Yet  there  will  be 
no  safety  for  northern  cattle  coming  in  contact  with  those  from  the  southern  coasts  during 
the  summer  months  ;  and  effective  prohibition  of  the  movement  of  such  cattle  from  May 
to  November  should  be  secured  by  efficient  legislation.  There  are  other  infectious  or  con 
tagious  maladies  of  other  kinds  of  farm  stock  over  which  legislative  control  should  be 
obtained  by  a  general  enactment. 

There  are  seven  different  laws  on  this  subject  now  temporarily  in  force  in  England, 
and  it  is  there  proposed  to  consolidate  and  perpetuate  them,  with  suitable  amendments 
The  dreaded  rinderpest,  the  ravages  of  which  increased  with  accelerating  ratio  until  the 
passage  of  the  law  requiring  and  compensating  the  destruction  of  infected  cattle,  was  very 
rapidly  subdued  by  compulsory  and  summary  destruction  of  infected  and  exposed  animals. 

In  the  sea-board  States  the  laws  relating  to  contagious  diseases  were  generally  framed 
with  reference  to  pleuro-pneumonia,  but  in  many  of  them  the  provisions  are  sufficiently 
general  to  embrace  all  communicable  diseases. 

A  board  of  commissioners  has  authority,  in  Massachusetts,  to  control  the  introduction 
of  diseased  cattle  and  take  measures  to  prevent  the  spread  of  disease  within  the  State ; 


198  DKPAimiKNT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

and  the  orders  of  this  board  supersede  those  of  selectmen  of  towns  and  mayors  and  alder 
men  of  cities.  The  law  provides  that  cattle  diseased  or  suspected  of  disease  can  neither 
be  removed  to  another  State,  nor  killed,  except  by  permission.  Owners  of  animals  killed 
on  account  of  disease  are  indemnified.  Town  authorities  may  brand  infected  animals,  and 
for  selling  animals  so  branded  a  fine  of  $500  may  be  imposed,  or  imprisonment  for  one  year. 

The  law  of  Rhode  Island  punishes  the  offence  of  bringing  diseased  cattle  into  the 
State  with  a  fine  of  $100  to  §500. 

Township  committees  in  New  Jersey,  upon  notice  of  a  cattle  disease  supposed  to  be 
contagious,  are  required  to  cause  the  separation  of  animals  presenting  symptoms  of  such 
disease,  five  hundred  feet  from  any  highway  or  the  premises  of  neighbors.  Penalties  are 
inflicted  for  storing  the  hide  or  any  other  part  of  a  diseased  animal,  and  for  permitting 
the  admixture  of  convalescent  with  healthy  animals  without  permission  of  the  committee. 
These  committees  are  empowered  to  prohibit  the  passage  of  cattle  through  their  townships, 
and  their  authority  is  enforced  by  a  fine  of  $100  for  each  animal  driven  in  disregard  of  the 
prohibition.  The  State  agricultural  society  is  also  authorized  to  take  active  measures  for 
preventing  the  introduction  of  disease. 

A  fine  of  $500,  or  imprisonment  not  exceeding  six  months,  are  penalties  in  Pennsyl 
vania  for  selling  infected  animals  ;  and  cattle  and  sheep  are  prohibited  from  running  at 
large  in  sections  where  contagious  diseases  prevail. 

Only  healthy  animals  are  allowed  to  be  driven  through  the  States  of  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina  In  Virginia,  when  diseased  cattle  are  found  at  large,  or  driven  in  viola- 
lation  of  law,  a  justice  may  require  the  owners  to  impound  them,  and  upon  failure  thus  to 
restrain  them,  the  animals  are  killed  by  order  of  the  justice  and  buried  at  the  depth  of 
four  feet. 

The  owner  of  "distempered"  cattle  in  Kentucky  is  liable  to  a  fine  of  ten  dollars 
each  for  such  animals  driven  or  permitted  to  run  at  large  through  the  State;  and  a  penalty 
of  five  dollars  each  punishes  a  neglect  of  burial  of  cattle  dying  of  disease. 

Laws  bearing  more  directly  upon  the  Texas  cattle  disease  are  in  operation  in  some  of 
the  States  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

In  Missouri  the  county  court  of  each  county  may  appoint  three  competent  and 
discreet  persons  to  act  as  a  board  for  the  inspection  of  cattle  supposed  to  be  infected 
with  the  Texas  cattle  disease.  This  board  is  empowered  to  stop  any  drove,  and 
to  order  the  removal  of  the  suspected  cattle  from  the  county,  and  by  the  same  route  of 
entry  if  practicable.  Owners  complying  with  such  order  are  not  further  liable ;  in  case  of 
refusal  or  neglect  to  comply,  the  president  of  the  board  may  direct  the  sheriff  to  drive  the 
cattle  out  by  the  route  upon  which  they  came,  or  to  kill  them  if  the  slaughter  shall  be 
deemed  necessary  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  disease.  The  owners  arc  liable  for  all  costs 
of  examination,  removal,  or  killing.  The  act  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  diseased  cattle 
into  tiie  State  provides  that  no  Texas,  Mexican,  or  Indian  cattle  shall  be  driven  or  other 
wise  conveyed  into  any  county  in  the  State  between  the  1st  day  of  March  and  the  1st 
day  of  December  in  each  year,  but  this  does  not  apply  to  any  cattle  which  have  been  kept 
the  entire  previous  winter  in  the  State.  Cattle  may  be  carried  through  the  State  by  rail 
road  or  steamboat,  provided  they  are  not  unloaded,  but  the  railroad  company  or  owners  of 
the  steamboat  are  responsible  for  all  damages  which  may  result  from  the  Texas  fever, 
should  the  same  occur  along  the  line  of  transportation  ;  and  the  existence  of  such  disease 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLEXIC  FEVER.  199 

along  the  route  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  that  the  disease  lias  been  communicated  by 
such  transportation.  For  every  head  of  cattle  brought  into  the  State  contrary  to  law  a 
fine  of  twenty  dollars  may  be  recovered,  or  the  party  may  be  imprisoned  in  the  county 
jail  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  twelve  months,  or  may  be  subjected  to  both  fine 
and  imprisonment.  It  is  lawful  for  any  three  or  more  householders  to  stop  any  cattle 
which  they  may  have  good  reason  to  believe  are  passing  through  any  county  in  violation 
of  the  act. 

Illinois  has  a  law  prohibiting  the  introduction  of  Texas  or  Cherokee  cattle  into  the 
State  between  the  1st  day  of  October  and  the  1st  day  of  March  under  penalty  of  a  fine 
of  not  less  than  $500  nor  exceeding  $2,000.  These  fines  shall  be  paid  into  the  county 
treasury  for  the  purpose  of  distribution  pro  rata  among  persons  who  have  suffered  losses 
by  the  introduction  of  such  cattle.  Persons  and  corporations  are  made  liable  to  injured 
parties  for  losses.  It  is  made  the  duty  of  any  circuit  or  county  judge,  or  justice  of  the 
peace,  upon  oath  of  any  householder  setting  forth  that  Texas  or  Cherokee  cattle  are  spread 
ing  disease  among  the  native  cattle,  to  forthwith  issue  a  warrant  to  any  sheriff  or  con 
stable  of  the  county,  commanding  him  to  arrest  and  impound  such  cattle  and  keep  them 
by  themselves  until  the  1st  day  of  October  following.  "Texas  and  Cherokee  cattle"  are 
defined  to  mean  a  class  or  kind  of  cattle  without  reference  to  the  place  from  which  they 
may  have  come. 

A  law  of  Iowa,  approved  April  8,  1868,  forbids  the  introduction  or  possession  of 
Texas,  Cherokee,  or  Indian  cattle,  but  permits  their  transportation  through  the  State  by 
railroads,  and  the  driving  of  such  cattle  when  wintered  north  of  the  southern  boundary  of 
the  State  of  Missouri  or  of  Kansas.  The  penalties  for  a  violation  of  this  law  are  a  fine 
not  exceeding  $1,000,  imprisonment  not  exceeding  six  months,  and  payment  of  all  damages 
accruing. 

A  special  enactment  of  Kansas  forbids  the  driving  of  cattle  from  Texas  or  the  Indian 
Territory  between  the  1st  day  of  March  and  the  1st  day  of  December  in  every  vear, 

tl  •/  J  J        v 

except  in  the  remote  and  sparsely  settled  territory  of  the  plains,  and  then  not  within  five 
miles  of  any  highway,  or  within  that  distance  of  any  "ranche"  except  by  consent  of  its 
proprietor.  The  penalties  for  its  violation  are,  for  first  offence,  a  fine  of  $100  to  $1,000 
and  imprisonment  from  thirty  days  to  six  months ;  for  subsequent  offences  the  penalties 
are  double. 

The  general  convention  held  in  Illinois,  in  which  most  of  the  States  were  ably  repre 
sented,  considered  carefully  the  subject  of  restrictive  legislation  and  adopted  the  following 
resolutions  : 

"  Whereas  a  malignant  disease  among  cattle,  known  as  Texas  fever,  has  been  widely 
disseminated  by  the  transit  of  southwestern  cattle  through  the  Western  and  Northwestern 
States  during  the  warm  season  of  the  year,  occasioning  great  loss  to  our  farmers  and 
possibly  endangering  the  health  of  our  citizens:  Therefore, 

"  -Resolved,  That  this  convention  earnestly  recommend  the  enactment,  by  those  States, 
of  stringent  laws  to  prevent  the  transit  through  their  limits  of  Texas  or  Cherokee  cattle 
from  the  1st  day  of  March  to  the  1st  day  of  November,  inclusive. 

"Resolved,  That  the  interests  of  the  community  require  the  enactment  of  laws 
making  any  person  responsible  for  all  damages  that  may  result  from  the  diffusion  of  any 
disease  from  animals  in  his  ownership  or  possession." 


200  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

CONVENTION  OP  CATTLE  COMMISSIONERS. 

Accepting  the  invitation  of  Governor  Oglesby,  of  Illinois,  the  cattle  commissioners 
of  the  several  States  met  in  convention  at  Springfield,  December  1,  1868.  There  were 
present,  representatives  from  Illinois,  Indiana,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Michigan, 
Missouri,  New  York,  Ohio,  Rhode  Island,  and  Wisconsin. 

Various  views  were  presented,  and  many  facts  elicited,  of  a  character  similar  to  those 
recorded  in  these  pages;  it  was  made  perfectly  conclusive  that  the  infection  came  from 
Texas  cattle,  and  that  restrictive  legislation  was  necessary,  and  rigid  inspection  of 
suspected  cattle,  with  provisions  for  greater  care  in  transportation. 

The  convention  recommended  the  enactment  of  stringent  laws  to  prevent  the  transit 
of  Texas  or  Cherokee  cattle  through  their  respective  States  between  the  first  of  March  and 
the  first  of  November,  and  to  make  the  owner  responsible  for  damages  caused  by  the 
introduction  of  such  cattle. 

It  recommended  the  appointment  of  State  boards  of  commissioners  who  should  have 
power  to  appoint  assistants,  when  needed,  to  take  measures  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
diseases  of  domestic  animals,  to  give  public  notice  of  the  outbreak  of  any  dangerous 
disease,  establish  regulations  for  the  transit  of  cattle,  place  diseased  animals  in  quarantine, 
and  cause  them  to  be  killed  if  neccessary  to  the  public  protection.  It  proposed  the 
empowering  of  commissioners  to  inspect  all  cattle  brought  into  the  State,  to  exclude  any 
animal  deemed  capable  of  diffusing  dangerous  diseases,  and  to  stop  cattle  trains  in  which 
no  opportunity  had  been  afforded  during  the  preceding  twenty-four  hours  for  food  and 
water;  and  recommended  penalties  for  resisting  or  interfering  with  such  officers  in  the 
discharge  of  their  duties,  and  for  the  bribery  of  officers  charged  with  the  execution  of 
the  law. 

RECAPITULATION. 

In  conclusion,  the  following  peculiarities  of  this  singular  disease  are  presented  by  a 
systematic  sifting  of  the  mass  of  testimony  brought  out  during  the  respective  investigations 
so  briefly  chronicled  in  the  foregoing  pages: 

1.  The  disease  is  communicated  by  southern  cattle. 

2.  The  cattle  communicating  the  infection,  though  showing  signs  of  splenic  enlarge 
ment   or  evidence  of   once-existing  disease,  when  slaughtered,  are  apparently  well  and 
actually  increasing  in  weight  and  vigor. * 

3.  Infection  is  not  usually  communicated  in  winter,  and  fields  may  be  safely  depas 
tured  in  spring  which  have  been  occupied  in  winter  by  southern  cattle.     In  a  single  case 
reported  an  apparent  exception  is  presented. 

4.  Animals  receiving  the   infection  from  southern  cattle  do  not  communicate  it  to 
other  natives.     This  exemption  is  a  rule  so   undeviating  that  probably  not  one  farmer 
in  one  hundred,  whose  stock  has  suffered  by  this  disease,  would  fear  a  dollar's  loss  by 
communication  of  their  uninfected  with  sick  animals.     The  authenticated  exception  is 

"  While  Houthcrn  cattle  possess  the  perm  of  virulent  disease,  it  is  rarely,  if  ever,  developed  in  themselves,  at  least  with  tl  e 
same  manifestations  and  intensity.  As  prisoners,  coining  from  unventilated  j»ils,  have  eommunieated  typhus  to  judge  and  jury, 
without  active  manifestations  of  similar  disease  in  themselves,  so  Texas  cattle,  coming  from  miasmatic  pasturage,  infect  cattle 
of  other  climates,  and  cause  a  disease,  unknown  in  degree,  (or  perhaps  in  kind)  among  tlie  stock  in  which  the  infection  originates. 


STATISTICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  REPORT  OF  SPLENIC  FEVER.  201 

the  case,  recorded  on  page  194,  at  Haraptonburg,  New  York,  and  in  tli.it  no  positive 
proof  is  given  that  the  animal  communicating  the  infection  was  not  a  Texan.* 

5.  Southern  cattle  removed  to  localities  characterized  by  the  same  climatic  conditions 
(as  from  one  portion  of  the  Gulf  coast  to  another,  or  upon  the  same  parallel  of  latitude,) 
do  not  communicate  disease  to  local  stock. 

6.  The  virus  appears  to  be  eliminated  from  the  system  after  a  stay  of  a  few  weeks 
or  months  in  a  northern  climate,  so  that  no  infection  is  communicated  to  the  cattle  with 
which  they  come  in  contact. 

7.  A  preponderance  of  testimony  tends  to  establish  the  theory  that  the  infection  is 
conveyed  through  the  voided  excrements.     It  does  not  appear  that  the  disease  has  ever 
been  communicated  "except  to  animals  that  have  fed  upon  pastures  or  in  lots  soiled  by 
the  excrements  of  the  southern  cattle." 

8.  The  period  of  incubation  is  not  of  uniform  length.     From  causes  which  may  be 
left  for  medical  investigation  to  determine,  the  potency  of  the  virus  is  variable.     Sometimes 
a  week  intervenes  between  the  exposure  and  the  attack ;  frequently  a  period  of  ten  days 
or  two  weeks  elapses;   sometimes  two,  three,  or  six  weeks  intervene;  and  in  one  case  in 
Washington  county,  Arkansas,  the  time  of  incubation  was  three  months.      In  portions 
of  Arkansas,  in  which  the  climatic  conditions  are  similar  to  those  of  the  region  from 
which   the   migrating  cattle   come,  no  infection  occurs;    and  in  proportion  as  a  section 
assimilates  in  climate  to  such  region,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  the  liability  to  the  disease 
is  lessened,  and,  probably,  the  period  of  its  incubation  extended. 

9.  The  disease  runs  a  brief  course  of  a  few  days,  generally  but  three  or  four,  often 
but  one  or  two,  and  proves  fatal  in  nine  cases  of  every  ten. 

10.  Liability  to  infection  is  so  imminent  that  few  exposed  animals  escape.     When 
circumstances  favor  the  greatest  virulence  of  the  disease,  whole  herds  have  often  been 
destroyed,  and  the  cattle  of  entire  districts  nearly  all  swept  away,  while  beyond  the  line 
of  exposure,  distinctly  marked  as  the  boundary  of  a  sweeping  conflagration  or  resistless 
tornado,  not  a  herd  nor  an  animal  has  been  touched. 

11.  Medication  has  been  of  little  service,  though  the  testimony  gives  color  to  the 
probability  that  a  slightly  reduced  mortality  might  be  secured  by  skillful  medical  treatment 
and  feeding  with  soft  mashes. 

12.  The  losses  from  this  disease  for  a  few  years  prior  to  the  war,  and  for  years  since 
its   close,  cannot   be   accurately  stated,  but  undoubtedly  amounts   to   several  millions  of 
dollars.     The  greatest  fatality  has  been  in  Missouri  and  Kansas.     In   1858  the  loss  in 
Vernon  County,  Missouri,  was    $200,000.     Losses  were  widely  distributed  and  severe 
throughout  southern  Kansas  and  southwest  Missouri  in  1866  and  1867;  in  1868  they 
were  less  in  these  States,  as  the  result  of  general  enforcement  of  restrictive   laws,  but 
were  heavy  and  alarming  in  eastern  Illinois  and  western  Indiana,  when  the  prairie  pastures 


*, Joseph  Poole,  a  commissioner  representing  Indiana  at  the  Illinois  convention  in  1868,  said,  on  this  point:  "My  own 
experience,  and  all  the  authentic  information  I  have  been  able  to  obtain,  goes  to  show  and  prove  most  conclusively  that  in  the 
most  aggravated  cases  of  the  disease  among  native  cattle,  and  where  they  are  dying  by  scores,  and  other  native  cattle 'are  in  a 
field  or  inclosure  at  a  proper  distance  from  any  point  that  may  have  been  infected  by  Texas  cattle,  you  may  drive  native  cattle, 
sick  with  this  disease,  into  the  field  witli  the  native  cattle  in  good  health,  and  not  one  of  the  healthy  cattle  will  ever  be  infected 
or  sick  with  the  disease."  Such  were  the  facts  elicited  and  generally  admitted  by  all  at  the  convention,  after  the  most  strict 
inquiry  and  quite  a  spirited  discussion  upon  the  subject.  The  New  York  commissioners,  in  an  official  report  dated 
September  5,  1668,  (before  the  outbreak  at  Hamptonburg, !  said:  "We  have  not  heard  of  a  single  case  of  the  disease  having 
been  taken  by  any  animal  that  lias  not  been  in  contact  with  Texas  cattle  or  with  their  excretions.  We  have  had  authentic 
evidence  that  Texas  cattle  that  have  passed  over  a  road,  dropping  the  excrement  thereon,  have  communicated  the  disease  to 
native  cattle  that  passed  over  the  same  road  forty-eight  hours  afterward.'' 

26 


202  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

of  those  States  were  for  the  first  time  occupied  by  cattle  direct  from  Texas.  The  deaths 
numbered  about  5,000  in  Champaign  County,  Illinois;  1,500  in  Warren,  600  in  Benton, 
and  400  in  Jasper,  in  Indiana;  and  many  counties  in  these  and  other  States  were  involved 
to  a  less  extent.  The  mortality  of  1868,  reported  by  our  returns,  amounts  to  at  least 
15,000  cattle,  involving  a  loss  of  not  less  than  $500,000. 

13.  While  meat  of  diseased  animals  can  never  be  deemed  wholesome  food,  the  milk 
and  flesh  of  cattle  affected  with  this  disease  do  not  generally  cause  immediate  sickness.* 

From  these  characteristics  of  this  climatic  disease  it  is  clear  that  it  can  never  involve 
in  general  destruction  the  cattle  of  the  country  by  successive  "generations"  of  the  virus, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  European  rinderpest,  and  that  its  ravages  may  be  easily  confined  to 
circumscribed  limits,  if  not  prevented  altogether,  by  judicious  legislation  which  shall  not 
interfere  seriously  with  the  freedom  or  the  profits  of  the  cattle  trade. 

J.  R.  DODGE. 
Hon.  HORACE  CAPEON,  Gommissioner. 


*  Of  the  testimony  bearing  upon  this  point,  that  of  Mr.  Eaton,  in  charge  of  the  Brondlaml  farms  of  Mr.  Alexander,  in 
Champaign  county,  Illinois,  is  very  strong.  He  states  that  140  head  of  native  cattle  died  there  in  18G8  from  Texa--  fever,  and 
among  them  nearly  all  the  cows  on  the  place,  whose  milk  was  used  with  apparent  impunity  until  they  ceased  to  give  milk;  the 
calves  sucked  as  long  as  their  mothers  could  stand,  and  in  one  instance  a  calf  sucked  three  cows  alternately  until  eacli  died  ;  and 
in  some  cases  the  hogs  consumed  the  carcasses  of  dead  cattle.  Not  n  single  case  of  disease  or  injury  resulted  from  the  use 
ot  meat  or  milk. 


INDEX 


A. 

Page. 

Air  passages,  condition  of,  in  cast's  of  lung  plague 22 

America,  history  of  tlio  lung  plague  in 12 

Appearance  after  death  in  cases  of  lung  plague 20 

Arkansas,  splenic  fever  in 185, 197 

B. 

Badger,  Dr.  Alfred,  report  of,  on  symptoms  Mid.  ravages 

of  splenic  fever 187 

Barnes,  J.  K.,  Surgeon  General,  report  of 64 

Billings,  Dr.  J.  S.,  report  of,  onVxainination  of  fluids  of 
diseased  eattle.with  reference  to  the  presence  of 
cryptogamic  growth 156 

Bleeding  or  congestive  stage  in  splenic  fever 89 

general  appearance  in 89 

temperature  in 90 

Brooklyn,  lung  plague  in 12 

C. 

Capron,  Horace,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  report  of, 

to  the  Senate ......       1 

Cattle  Commissioners'  convention 200 

Cattle  disease  in  1796 176 

Causes  and  nature  of  splenic  fever 106 

of  the  lung  plague 22 

Collection  of  plants  made  in  Texas  by  H.  W.  Kavenei —  174 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  Horace  Capron,  report  of, 

to  the  Senate 1 

Communication  of  splenic  fever  in  stock  yards 116 

Conclusions  drawn  from  experiments  in  inoculation 48,53 

Contagion  and  infection  of  lung  plague 29 

Convention  in  Illinois 199, 200 

Cryptogamic  growths,  report  on  examination  of  fluids  of 

diseased  cattle  with  reference  to  the  presence  of.  156' 

Curative  treatment  of  splenic  fever , 123 

Curtis,  Dr.  Edward,  report  of,  on  examination  of  fluids 

of  diseased  (Kittle  with  reference  to  the  presence 

of  cryptogamic  growths 156 

D. 

Definition  of  lung  fever 84 

Diseases  of  cattle,  general  remarks  on  the  reports  on 127 

farm  animals,  laws  relative  to 197 

Digestive  organs,  post  mortc.m  appearances  of 94 

District  of  Columbia,  lung  fever  in 15 

losses  in,  by  lung  plague 59 

Dodge,  J.  E.,  report  of  statistical  and  historical  investi 
gations  of  the  progress  and  results  of  the  Texas 

cattle  disease 175 

Duration  of  the  lung  plague 20 

Dutch  experiments  in  inoculation,  statistics  of fiO,  62 


E. 


England,  laws  relating  to  diseases  of  cattle  in  ..........  197 

Examinations  of  blood  and  secretions  from  cattle  affected 

with  contagious  pleuro-pneumonia  or  lung  fever.  160 
Examinations  of  blood  and  secretions  from  cattle  affected 

with  the  splenic  fever  .......................  J.C2 

Examinations  of  blood  and  secretions  from  cattle  affected 

by  lung  fever  or  with  splenic  fever,  remarks  on.  166 

Experiments  in  inoculation  ..........................  41 

conclusions  from  .......................  48,53 

with  lung  plague  in  France,  1st  series  .....  29 

2d  series  ...........  31 

f. 

Farm  animals,  diseases  of,  laws  relative  to  .............    197 

ill  effects  of  smut  in  feed  of.  ....................     73 

Fungi  of  Texas,  report  of  H.  W.  Eavenel  on  ..........   171 

G. 

Gamgee,  Prof.  John,  report  of,  on  the  ill  effects  of  smut 

in  feed  of  farm  animals  ......................     73 

Gamgee,  Prof.  John,  report  of,  on  the  lung  plague  ......       3 

on  the  splenic  or  periodic  fever  of  cattle  .........     82 

General  remarks  on  the  reports  on  the  diseases  of  cattle.   127 
Georgia,  splenic  fever  in  .............................   195 

H. 

Historical  and  statistical  report  on  Texas  cattle  disease 

or  splenic  fever  .............................  175 

History  of  the  lung  plague  ..........................  5 

in  America  ...............................  12 

I. 

Ill  effects  of  smut  in  feed  of  farm  animals  ..............     73 

Illinois,  convention  in  ...........................   199,  200 

laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animals  in  .......   199 

splenic  fever  in  ............................  182,  191 

Incubative  stag«  of  the  splenic  fever  ..................     87 

Indiana,  splenic  fever  in  .............................    191 

Infection  and  contagion  of  lung  plague  ................     29 

Inoculation,  conclusions  drawn  from  experiments  in  —  48,53 
experiments  in  ......  .  .......  .  ................     41 

objections  to  ..................................     54 

of  the  lung  plague  ............................     40 

precautions  in  ................................     55 

statistics  of  Dutch  experiments  in  .............  60,  62 

Invasion,  the  period  of,  in  splenic  fever  ...............     89 

Investigations  of  1867  ..............................   178 

Investigations  of  1868  ...............................   184 

Iowa,  laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animals  in  ......   199 

Ixodea  boi-is  ........................................   118 

identatus  .....................................    118 


204 


INDEX. 


K. 

Pago. 

Kansas,  splenic  fever  in 179, 183, 185, 190 

Kentucky,  laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animals  in..   198 

splenic  fever  in 182, 190 

Kings  county,  Long  Island,  lung  plague  in 12 


Latent  form  of  the  lung  plague 20 

Laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animals 197 

Illinois  convention  on 199 

in  England 197 

Illinois 199 

Iowa 199 

Kansas 199 

Kentucky 198 

Massachusetts 197 

Missouri 198 

New  Jersey 198 

North  Carolina 198 

Pennsylvania 198 

Rhode  Island 198 

Virginia 198 

Liver  and  spleen,  weights  of 133 

Lung  fever  in  District  of  Columbia 15 

in  Virginia 15 

Lung  plague,  appearance  after  death  in  cases  of 20 

causes  of  the 22 

condition  of  the  air  passages  in  cases  of 22 

contagion  and  infection  of 29 

duration  of 20 

examinations  of  blood  and  secretions  from  cattle 

affected  with 162 

experiments  with,  in  France,  1st  series 29 

2<1  series 31 

history  of  the 5 

in  America. 12 

in  Brooklyn 12 

Maryland 14, 15 

Massachusetts 12 

New  Jersey 12,14 

inoculation  of  the 40 

in  Pennsylvania 14 

in  the  mountains . . 24 

latent  form  of 20 

losses  from 9 

in  Great  Britain 11 

medical  treatment  of 34 

nomenclature  of 4 

obvious  premonitory  signs  of 17 

pathological  anatomy  and  histology  of  the  respi 
ratory  organs  in 64 

reputed  cause  of — 

abundant  milk  secretion 26 

chills — breathing  a  cold  air 27. 

drinking  cold  or  impure  water 26 

feeding 24 

hereditary    predisposition — congenital    pleuro- 
pneumonia  27 

overwork _ 27 

•tabling 25 

utall  feeding 25 

report  of  Prof.  John  Gaingee  on 3 

signs  or  symptoms  ot,  during  lift- 16 


Lung  plague— statistics  of  losses  in  District  of  Columbia 

and  vicinity 59 

the  alleged  original  causes  of  the 23 

the  pathology  or  nature  of  the 32 

termination  of,  in  cases  of 19 

M. 

Massachusetts,  laws  relative  to  farm  animals  in 197 

lung  plague  in 12 

Maryland,  lung  plague  in 14, 15 

Mease.  Dr.  James,  on  splenic  fever 176 

Medical  treatment  of  the  lung  plague 34 

Missouri,  laws  relative  to  disease  in  farm  animals  in 198 

splenic  fever  in 181, 186, 196, 197 

Musty  hay 70 

oats 77 

TH. 

Nature  of  splenic  fever 119 

the  lung  plague 32 

Nebraska,  splenic  fever  in 197 

Nervous  system,  condition  of  the,  in  cases  subjected  to 

post  mortem  examinations 96 

New  Jersey,  laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animals  in.   198- 

lung  plague  in 12, 14 

splenic  fever  in 195 

New  York,  splenic  fever  in 194 

Nomenclature  of  the  lung  plague 4 

Non-transmission  of  splenic  fever  by  northern  or  western 

herds 115 

North  Carolina,  laws  relative  to  diseased  farm  animals  in.   198 

O. 

Observations  of  inoculation 42 

post  mortem  appearances 97 

Objections  to  inoculation 54 

Obvious  premonitory  signs  of  lung  plague 17 

Ohio,  splenic  fever  in - 193 

Outbreak  of  1868 183 

P. 

Pathological   anatomy  and  histology  of  the  respiratory 

organs  in  pleuro-pneumonia 64 

Pathology  of  the  lung  plague 32 

Pennsylvania,  laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animate  in .  198 

lung  plague  in 14 

splenic  fever  in 195, 19(> 

splenic  fever  in,  1796 1761 

Periodic  fever — (See  splenic  fever.) 

Plants,  collections  of,  made  in  Texas  by  H.  W.  Ravenel.  174 

Pleuro-pneumonia — (See  luny  playue.) 

1'oit  mortem  appearance  in  cases  of  splenic  fever- 92 

specific  observations  of 97 

of  animals  affected  by  the  use  of  smutty  com 79 

Precautions  in  inoculation , 55 

Premonitory  signs  of  lung  plague 17 

Prevention  of  ill-effects  of  smutty  corn 81 

splenic  fever 124 

K. 

Ravenel,  II.  W.,  report  of,  on  the  fungi  of  Texas 171 

Recapitulation  of  results  of  investigations  of  splenic  fever.  200 


INDEX. 


205 


Page. 

Remarks  on  the   results  of  examinations  of  blood  awl 
secretions  from  cattle  affected  by  lung  fever  or 

with  splenic  fever 160. 

Report  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Woodward,  U.  S.  A,,  on  the  patho 
logical  anatomy  and  histology  of  the  respiratory 

organs  in  the  pleuro-pneumonia  of  cattle 64 

Drs.  Billings  and  Curtis,  on  results  of  examinations 
of  diseased  cattle,  with  reference  to  the  presence 

of  cryptogamic  growths 156 

H.  W.  Eavenel,  on  the  fungi  of  Texas 171 

Prof.  John  Gamgee  on  the  ill  effects  of  smut  in 

feed  of  farm  animals 73 

Prof.  John  Gamgee  on  the  lung  plague 3 

Prof.  John  Gamgee  on  the  splenic  or  periodic  fever 

of  cattle 82 

J.  R.  Dodge,  on  the  statistical  and  historical  inves 
tigations  of  the  progress  and  results  of  the  Texas 

cattle  disease 175 

the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  Horace  Capron, 

to  the  Senate 1 

Reports  on  diseases  of  cattle,  general  remarks  on 127 

Rhode  Island,  laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animals  in .   198 
Rusty  straw 78 

S. 

Seasons,  influence  of,  in  developing  the  splenic  fever 117 

Signs  or  symptoms  of  lung  plague  during  life 16 

Smut  in  feed  of  farm  animals,  ill  effects  of 73 

corn,  post  mortem  appearances  of  animals  affected 

by 79 

prevention  of  ill  effects  from  eating 81 

symptoms  of  the  ill  effects  of 79 

treatment  of  animals  affected  by 80 

Spanish  fever — (See  splenic  fever.) 

Special  causes  favoring  the  development  of  lung  plague 

in  the  mountains 24 

Specific  observations  of  post  mortem  appearances 97 

Spleen  and  liver,  weights  of 133 

Splenic  fever,  causes  and  nature  of 106 

communication  in  stock  yards 116 

curative  treatment  of 123 

definition  of 84 

Dr.  James  Mease  on.-- 176 

examinations  of  blood  and  secretions  from  cattle 

affected  with •  162 

in  Arkansas 185, 197 

influence  of  the  seasons  on  the  development  of 117 

in  Georgia 195 

Illinois 182,191 

Indiana 191 

Kansas 179,183,185,196 

Kentucky 182,190 

Missouri 181,186,196,197 

Nebraska 197 

New  Jersey 195 


Splenic  fever  in  New  York 194 

Ohio 193 

Pennsylvania 195, 19(5 

Pennsylvania  in  1796 l~(j 

Virginia 197 

nature  of ny 

non-transmission  of,  by  northern  or  western  stock.  115 

of  cattle,  report  of  Prof.  Gamgee  on 82 

post  mortem  appearances  in  cases  of 92 

recapitulation  of  results  of  investigations  of 200 

stages  of— I  .The  incubation  stage 87 

II.  The  period  of  invasion 89 

III.  The  bleeding  or  congestive  stage 89 

IV.  Termination 91 

statistical  and  historical  report  on 175 

symptoms  of 86 

the  prevention  of 124 

"tick  theory"  in 118 

Statistical  investigation  of  1868 184 

Statistics  of  Dutch  experiments  in  inoculation CO,  62 

losses  by  lung  plague  in  the  District  of  Columbia 

and  vicinity 59 

weights  of  liver  and  spleen , 133 

Stock  yards,  communication  of  splenic  fever  in 116 

Symptoms  of  lung  plague  during  life 16 

the  ill  effects  of  smutty  corn 79 

splenic  fever 86 

T. 

Temperature  in  cases  of  lung  plague 17 

Termination  in  splenic  fever 91 

of  lung  plague 19 

Texas  cattle  disease — (See  splenic  f ever.) 

statistical  and  historical  report  on 175 

fever — (See  splenic  fever. ) 

"  Tick  theory"  in  splenic  fever 118 

Treatment,  medical,  of  the  lung  plague 34 

of  animals  affected  by  smutty  corn 80 

of  splenic  fever 123 

U. 

United  States,  history  of  the  lung  plague  in 12 

Urinary  organs,  post  mortem  appearances  of — 96 

V. 

Virginia,  laws  relative  to  diseases  of  farm  animals  in —   198 

Virginia,  lung  fever  in 15 

Virginia,  splenic  fever  in 197 

W. 

Weights  of  liver  and  spleen 13o 

Woodward,  Dr.  J.  J.,  report  of,  on  the  pathological 
anatomy  and  histology  of  the  respiratory 
organs  in  the  pleuro-pneumouia  of  cattle 64 


14  DAY  USE 

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